


Sweet Mistakes (first draft)

by foxtrotblues



Series: Sweet Mistakes Verse [1]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Explicit Language, F/M, References to Depression, Reluctant Farmer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 13:34:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 48,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6909499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxtrotblues/pseuds/foxtrotblues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fern isn't good at making decisions, Harvey isn't good with people.  When Fern comes take over her grandpa's farm there forced to deal with both their issues even if it induces major eye rolling and sarcasm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I want to give out a huge thanks to shellyc9 on Tumblr for helping me beta read and making sure my grammatical errors weren't to horrible.  
> Edit I wrote this a year ago and it is very much a first draft. I do plan on rewriteing it someday hopefully sooner rather than later.

  
Fern  
Seventy two hours. So much can change in Seventy two hours. Just three days ago she was working in a job she hated, engaged to her childhood sweetheart, and perfectly content with her life. Now she is picking apart weeds to make it to the front door of her grandpa's farm.  
Mayor Lewis rattled off words behind her along with Robin the carpenter interjecting in. Fern half listened as she finally made it to the mailbox. Robin went on about upgrading the house but Fern didn't care. She didn't care about soil quality or hard wood she just needed to pass time.  
"I don't plan on staying." They looked at her in surprise. Ok maybe she said that louder than she wanted. "I mean I just want to fix this place up and sell it to tide me over until I get another job."  
The mayor and Robin exchanged a look that Fern couldn't translate. They seemed nice enough in the way Fern wasn’t used to back in the city. With a small wave they left her alone to get comfortable and unpack her stuff.  
The farm couldn't even be considered a farm it was more one room with a bed and a table shoved in a corner along with a TV that looked older than her. She found a packet of parsnip seeds in a box and moved the box closer to the door activating a cloud of dust. She sneezed in succession her allergies already acting up and reached for her inhaler. She felt immediate regret for a decision made of the spur of the moment. When she made the decision, she seemed so sure of herself convincing this is what would get her life on track and to prove she was an adult. Now she felt stupid and foolish. She had always been a realistic thinker and even though people saw her as negative she saw life for what it was; one cruel joke. She was a glass half empty kind of person and no matter how many therapists tried to convince her otherwise life indeed is a bitch.  
She picked up the phone hearing the dial tone and wondered if she should call Michael and tell him she made it all right. No he said he wanted space and she was determined to give it to him despite hating every second without him. She left a quick message on his answering machine trying to keep the tone breezy. With that done, she looked at the room.  
Climbing into bed she was suddenly tired. What was it about being pitch dark at nine at night that make her want to go to sleep? In the city she would be up watching some stupid talk show while going through a pint of ice cream. She wouldn’t be under this scratchy blanket listening to the house creek and things tapping on the window.  
She fell asleep somewhat fast but was bolted awake soon after by a large noise. Clutching the blanket she looked around the room for something that could be used as a weapon. Laying back down she did her best to remember her therapist's words and calm herself. _Deep breaths, in and out. Focus on your toes relaxing, now your feet._ She sprang up hearing another sound. She wasn’t used to this much noise at night. Despite living in an apartment in the middle of town everything eventually became background noise so she could sleep through a fire alarm but here at the farm, a sound of a twig snapping made her jump and her heart speed up. Bundling up her blankets to make a makeshift body pillow she put a pillow over her head to mute some of the noises. This was going to be a long night.  
After getting a minimal amount of sleep, she found some snacks and grabbed the tools. She worked at trying to at least make a path in the weeds so she could walk back and forth. She was alone with her thoughts. She wondered if this wasn’t some huge mistake. She lived in the city all her life. The most she walked was to the bus stop to work and she had asthma; she wasn’t cut out for this. She ended up doing roughly a square foot of cleaning before she was winded.  
Going back into the house, she collapsed in the bed. It wasn’t even noon yet and she wanted to pass out. She didn’t want to do anything. She wondered If Michael missed her. She wondered if they replaced her at her job. She wondered if anyone cared or even noticed she was gone.

That Friday she ended up getting fed up with doing the work of five people and barely getting paid for doing her job. In a huff (Or most likely PMS rage), she quit shoving everything in a box and taking the two forty bus out of there. Michael was surprised to see her home and even more surprised to find out that she had quit. In fact he didn’t take the news well. He always made it obvious he made more money that her complaining how he was left to pay the bills while most of Fern’s paycheck went to insurance and food. He pushed her to find a better paying job but Fern didn’t care. To her a job was a job and she was going to work one until she died. She tried her best to explain to him how she was tired of getting overworked  
“That's what a job is you're not supposed to get recognition for it. What do you want a gold star just because you filed paperwork? Do you want me to tell you good job every time you come home? No you go to work even if you hate it, you get paid, you come home and do it all over again. Then maybe if they like you, you can get a job that pays better. It's not about happiness it's about living.”  
She screamed not caring if the neighbours heard “Well what if I don’t want to live this way.” She knew she was making a scene but at that point she didn't care.  
“I think I need space I don't know if I could be in a relationship anymore.”  
She slept on the couch and tried to make an alternative plan. Hell this was her alternative plan, working a shitty job and dating Michael. She never went to college, never wanted to go. As soon as they let her loose after high school, she never wanted to step foot in a classroom again. She wondered if she had a normal family one with both parents that loved her, ones that took pictures before the school dance, ones that get their kid a car on their birthday if she would be better off. Instead her life was scraps of hastily made plans.  
Thinking back to before her mom died she remembered her grandpa gave her a farm. Her mom briefly talked about spending summers there with her grandpa. She had never visited the farm being in disrepair by the time she came along. Sometimes her mother talked about fixing it up but never able to take the plunge and do it. But since her mom died the farm defaulted to her. She figured it could be worth something. Since she couldn’t sleep she thought of this makeshift plan, the plan that was going to solve all her problems. She would go to this farm fix it up, maybe get some crops growing then find some yuppie who was into organic free range food to buy it from her. At four in the morning it had seemed like a brilliant plan.  
Despite not sleeping, she dug out the paperwork and called the Lewis the man her grandpa mentioned in the letter. He remembered her mother as a little girl and expressed condolence at her passing. ‘A few years too late’ she thought. She interrupted him asking when she could move in the sooner, the better; He said he could get things ready by the next day. Ecstatic she hung up and started packing.

  
Harvey  
Another day another night alone they were starting to blend together he lost track a few years ago. If it weren’t for festivals and his birthday, he would have no sense of time.  
Running the town clinic kept his mind busy. Even when he was off the clock he had papers to file, records to input, inventory to be arranged. Even with his assistant Maru, he felt that he could never keep up and his to do list got longer. After a while everything became automatic the only differences being the seasons.  
Sometimes he wondered where he would be if his life was a bit different, If he chosen another path. Sometimes he would watch the other townspeople and be envious of their lives and families as he returned to his apartment alone. Shaking his head to himself he sighed. _Living in the past never got you anywhere._ He stood stretched and walked to lock the clinic door.  



	2. Chapter 2

**Fern**  
"Yoohoo granddaughter”.  
She looked out the window to see a heavy set lady waving her hands. She realized she slept all of yesterday afternoon and a bit of morning. Getting out of bed she felt a sudden chill that hurt her nose and toes. Not having unpacked she dug in her bag pulling on a hoodie, found her fluffy boots and walked out to meet the yelling lady.  
“Hi I’m Marnie I live down there,” She pointed down the road. “I’m sorry I don’t know your name honey.”  
Holding back a yawn “Fern Farmer and I know the irony of it”.   
She gave her a bright smile, a smile way too cheerful for this early in the morning. “Nice to meet you. By the way your dog is at my house.”  
Trying to hold off another yawn, she stared at Marnie “Wait what dog? I don’t have a dog.”   
Her face fell “Oh I guess they dumped another stray again.” She looked back down the road. “I already have enough animals or I would take her,” her eyes darted then widened “Hey would you like a dog?”   
She briefly considered it for a few seconds “Well I'm not planning on staying permanently just until I fix it up to sell, plus I’ve never had a dog.”  
"Well Miss Farmer that's the best reason to get a dog. How about this you take care of her while I ask around if I can find a home for her? You will enjoy the company plus it's always nice to have protection.”  
Chewing on her lip Fern thought. She did have a point after last few night and all the noises she had barely got any sleep.  
“Ok I guess, hopefully she won't get to attached to me.”  
“I'll bring her by sometime later today when I get off from work oh by the way I sell animals and supplies.” She pointed south “Just down that road also Leah lives not to far away. We’re pretty much your closest neighbours.”  
“Alright hopefully I’ll meet everybody when I go to town it was nice meeting you.”   
“You too. Hopefully you'll end up sticking around. It's a shame to see the farm go to waste”.   
Fern opened her mouth to explain but she was already halfway down the road leading to her house. Fern kicked a rock activating a cloud of farm dust. Somehow this felt a bit convenient like Marnie planned the entire thing.  
“Wonderful first I get a farm, now I have a dog”. If she wasn’t already regretting her decision before she was now.  
\---  
She walked with her now empty backpack slung over a shoulder to town. She had a basic idea of the layout around her farm thanks to Robin and Marnie so she knew the quickest way to town was east pass the bus stop. She figured she would get some food so she wouldn’t end up eating crackers and jerky for a week that she brought as the gas station.  
It was so quiet all she could hear were birds and the occasional bees. She took a moment to take it all in. It was never like this back in the city. It even seemed like the air was different not to mention the smell of trees and fireplaces. Even after walking for a few minutes she wasn’t out of breath like she would normally be walking to work.  
She was never an outdoorsy person her family never went camping so this was a novelty to her. Everything from the wood fence line to the cobblestone on the streets, it was all like something out of a movie. She wondered if Lewis also doubled as the town's mailman and law enforcement along with his mayoral duties.  
Seeing a building up ahead and knew she was going the right way. Next to a hospital clinic was the store Lewis told her about. She thought it was charming in that ‘mom and pop’ kind of way. Something like this in the city would just feel like they're trying to hard. As she opened the door, a little jingle announced her presence and she could smell a combination of earthy and food smells as she walked in.  
“Ah you're the new farmer.” a bespectacled man leaned over the counter “I’m Pierre.” Somebody coughed. He pointed to the other occupants of the store “That's Gus, he runs the bar.”  
Gus nodded “Nice to see somebody living there again.”  
Pointing to another man in glasses “That's Doctor Harvey,” The doctor looked up from the newspaper he was reading made eye contact then went back to reading “and this is my daughter Abigail.” A purple haired girl a bit younger than Fern appeared from behind the shelf.  
“Hi, I guess I can’t go exploring now that somebody lives there.”  
Pierre gave his daughter a look. “You should not be trespassing on people's property even if nobody lives there.”  
Fern saw the girl roll her eyes and mumbled something she couldn’t make out.  
She gave a small wave to everybody feeling awkward being put in the spotlight  
"My name is Fern. Hopefully I’ll remember all of your names.”  
Somebody, she thought Gus laughed, “There's not many of us.”  
The doctor not saying a word went over to the counter and placed some money, turning to Fern “Well come to the clinic so I can access your health soon.” and walked out. Fern made a face trying to figure out what was his attitude problem .  
Abigail leaned to her “Don’t mind him. He’s like that with everybody. I just think he needs a girlfriend... or a boyfriend to loosen him up.”  
“Abigail!”  
“Well it's true.”  
He shook his head “Sometimes I don’t know what to do with you.”  
She went back to stocking shelves obviously not wanting to start an argument in front of a stranger with her dad. She decided to change the subject, pulled out her bag and asked “So what do you have food wise?”  
\---  
Dragging her purchases home, she realized she was lost. She wondered where she overshot it. Getting into town was so easy but she didn’t remember passing by the bus stop this way. She passed by a house with some cows and wondered if this was where Marnie lived. The cows seemed friendly enough almost asking for affection like a dog. She wandered over to pet them having never petted a cow before. She was surprised to find how soft his fur was.  
“Hey you! What are you doing?”  
She looked and saw a man slightly older than her getting off from a crate holding a cigarette in his hand. “I'm just petting it don’t worry, anyways I know the lady who lives here.”  
“Well the lady who lives here is my Aunt and I’ve never seen you around before.”  
She pointed vaguely to the direction where she thought her farm was “I live over there. I just moved and your Aunt came over and introduced herself and said something about a dog.”  
He let out a huff like he didn’t believe her.  
Marnie appeared in the door  
“I got Goldie all cleaned and ready”  
Fern swore the retriever mix was grinning at her.  
“Are you being nice Shane?”  
“Yeah sure.”  
She looked at Fern for confirmation.  
“Yeah he is.”

 

Harvey  
His internal clock woke him up at five and he sleepily got dressed. Making himself some toast, he wandered downstairs to the clinic and made sure everything was in order for the week. Satisfied he grabbed a canvas bag and his wallet and he went next door to Pierre’s hoping to catch up on news and buy whatever he needed that week.  
It was unusually chatty for a Monday. Gus the bartender’s voice standing out above the others.  
“I’m just saying we haven’t had anybody new in a few years.”  
Abigail chimed in from behind a shelf “What about Shane and Jas they moved here not to long ago?”  
Harvey peered so he could see her. She was sitting in the middle of a pile of boxes pricing things and gave a small wave.  
“Hiya Doc. Guess you don’t know the news since you weren't at the bar last night. We’re getting a new resident in the old farm west of here.”  
Harvey nodded and strolled up to the counter, Pierre already pulling out a newspaper for him.  
Abigail continued “I mean just the fact somebody would visit this place is exciting”.  
“Abigail.”  
“Well it's true dad, hopefully she’s interesting.”  
“Lewis said her mom came here all the time to help on the Travis farm.”  
Scratching his head Pierre thought back “I think I remember her short girl blonde hair some name that started with an A.”  
“Audrey” Gus chimed in “Audrey Travis-Farmer let's see that was twenty five-ish- thirty-ish years ago”  
Despite buried in the paper Harvey listened to the conversation knowing that this was the most excitement that happened in awhile. He had no idea who this Audrey and her daughter was he didn’t live here then so he felt out of place putting his input.  
Abigail dropped the pricing gun on the tile with a loud clash making him look up  
“Oh shit I think that’s her”.  
The girl walked in backpack hung around an arm looking around taking everything in. Harvey raised his eyebrows from behind the paper. She sure was cute, too young for him but cute. He was sure one of the boys in town would be all over her in a heartbeat.  
Pierre introduced everybody and Harvey lifted his eyes at her when he pointed him out. She introduced herself as Fern. He was never big on introductions; well he was never big on talking to people period. He went back to reading as everybody chatted with her. He mentally reminded himself to make a file for her and make an appointment for a check up. Realizing he was running late, he paid for his paper completely forgetting what he came there for. Turning to the newcomer “Well come to the clinic so I can access your health soon.” He meant it to sound cheerful and relaxed but interacting with new people always left him bit flustered and it came out not what he expected. As he went out the door, he mentally chastised himself ‘Way to start off on the right foot Harvey’. Shaking his head at himself, if he is getting that lonely he’s crushing on a high schooler maybe he needed a dog for company that or his meds adjusted.  
Maru, his assistant, stopped by even though it was her day off and chatted about the new girl.  
“Mom said she’s nice pretty quiet.”  
Harvey looked up from his paperwork  
“She seemed quiet but I only interacted with her briefly. That could because she's new and doesn't know everybody yet.”  
Spinning around in her chair, she said, “I’ll make her know everybody. In no time she will feel like this is home.”  
“I recommended for her to come into the clinic whenever she has a moment free so she might be in soon.”  
Maru nodded.  
“Hey Harvey can I leave early today? I hit an inspiration in my newest project last night and my fingers have been itching all day to get back at it. Mom wanted us to spend some quality time together, I don’t know how you can spend quality time at a bar so I won't be able to work on it this evening.”  
He glanced at the clock “I don’t see why not. I don’t think anybody’s going to come in.” Thankfully he was a bit relieved and was looking forward to time off.  
He finally felt he could relax. Taking off his shoes and reading a book a Chet Baker tape in his radio. Simple pleasures kept him going. Getting lost in the music, he let his mind wander. He was just at the right angle he could see out the window to the west, if he squinted he could see a light, possibly the farm. At least he wasn’t the only one who was up at this hour. He went back focusing on his book eventually falling asleep on his couch.


	3. Chapter 3

Fern  
Her first week was exhausting walking back and forth to town. The town was so small it didn’t have actual roads so everybody walked everywhere. Only the mayor had a beat up truck letting people borrow it when they needed to go to the city for something they didn’t have here.  
After visiting Pierre to get seeds, she attempted to plant a stupid crop so she could eat. She knew absolutely zero about farming and no matter how long she washed there was always a residue of dirt. By the fifth day she was sick of vegetables and wished she could just get a coffee and donut from the corner cafe like she used to when she lived in the city.  
She managed to make it to Friday and felt like she needed to relax. She remembered something about a bar in town and decided to check it out. She normally wasn’t a drinking person occasionally having beer when Michael friends were over, a social drinker. She figured after surviving her first week without getting some kind of food poisoning or being murdered in her sleep she earned a night off.  
She had built a pen for Goldie so she wouldn’t have to keep her locked up in the house all the time. The last thing she wanted was for her to wander off and have to explain to Marnie how she lost a dog that technically wasn’t hers.  
She found a booth and sat by herself nursing a beer. After scanning and accessing the situation, it seemed like everybody had their own group to hang out with all except Shane, Marnie's nephew, who stood in the corner giving off clear body language that he didn’t want to be bothered. She saw some new faces as well. Abigail was there with two other kids around her age who introduced themselves as Sam and Sebastian and she managed to meet her other neighbour Leah who introduced her to Elliott the writer who lived on the beach. They talked about books for a few minutes and, for a moment, Fern felt happy she could nerd out about reading and made plans to check out the library. Everybody in this town seemed excited to get to know her. Smiling to herself, maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

Harvey  
Harvey was anxious he didn’t know why. Perhaps it was the new farm girl coming in to town. He didn’t take to sudden change well and the addition of a new person on his radar threw him off.. He gave a sigh and grabbed his coat. Time for him to be social, he had been cooped up in the clinic way to long.  
He loved the town in the early evening when the sun started to set and the sky turned purplish. The moon had managed to poke itself out early and Harvey mentally calculated when the next full moon would be out. He always liked taking a moonlit walk to the mountains when he couldn’t sleep. For some reason, the clean air made him sleep better. He didn’t notice where he was going in till he slammed into somebody knocking his glasses askew. It was the farm girl.  
She pushed her glasses back on her face “Sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”  
He had no idea what to say or how to respond but he noticed she smelled a bit like liquor. She was a slight little thing and he was sure any amount of alcohol would impair her walking. Ok time to give this another shot and be friendly.  
“Well it's a good thing I ran into you.” He laughed at his own joke, but noted her face was annoyed. He decided to try a different tactic. “You haven’t came to the clinic so I can start your paperwork.”  
“Well I’ll try and make it sometime this week I been busy."  
He made a disapproving sound “Look if you just come to my office, we can get everything started.” He could see that she was trying desperately to think of an excuse. He held out his hands out in defeat “The quicker this is done, the faster I will leave you alone.”  
She followed him into the clinic and he noticed she adjusted her eyeglasses again, he was pretty sure she bent them out of alignment when she ran into him.  
He noticed she was nervous inside the clinic, Her eyes darted across the room.  
“Anything I can do to make this more comfortable for you”  
“Are you sure I can’t do it at home?”  
“Nope patient confidentiality. It will only take a few minutes just come to the exam room.” He grabbed a clipboard and followed her.  
“I already know your name and address,” he jotted it down on his paper. “Do you have a emergency contact?”  
She shook her head “No.”  
“Are you sure that you don’t want to put anyone down? It’s essential that, if an emergency should happen, there is somebody to dictate your care.”  
She shook her head again as he ran through some family history questions.  
“Sexually active?”  
“Do you mean right now or in the past?”  
Snarky girl, He gave a little eye roll “In the past.”  
“Yes I guess.”  
“Do you want information about birth control?”  
“Isn't that a personal question?”  
He sighed; so far he had a feeling she was going to be a difficult patient.  
“Look I’m your doctor, the only doctor in town. I’ve done everything from stitching back together legs to delivering babies so I need to cover everything.”  
Looking down at her shoes “No then.”  
“Medications you're taking?”  
She held out her hand counting down on her fingers “Prozac, generic birth control and inhaler for my asthma.”  
“That might have been useful to mention at the beginning. Do you need a refill or prescription of anything?”  
“No I came pretty stocked up and my asthma isn’t that bad.”  
He gave her a stare “Whenever a patent says it isn’t bad, they’re not taking care of their illness properly.”  
Standing up suddenly “Look doctor are we done or do you want my mothers maiden name and social to put in that file too?”  
He gave a large sigh and crossed his legs. “Look Ms. Farmer I take my job pretty seriously and pride myself in keeping the residents of this town healthy. If you comply that will be just dandy but if you're going to argue than we’re going to have problems.”  
She started pacing “Look I don’t need a parent ok? I don’t need somebody hovering over me making sure I’m eating healthy or taking my vitamins. I just want to pass the time until my life gets back to normal again.”  
Harvey was a bit taken aback with her outburst and took a moment to redirect his thoughts.  
“This is your health your gambling with what about your future what, about your children.” As soon as he said it he knew he said the wrong thing and her face changed from mild annoyance to anger.  
“Who says I’m going to have children? Just because I’m female you think I automatically want to go make babies?”  
Then he knew she was going to be one of those patients who had to be dragged in, who twisted his good advice around, after hearing it all the time from Pam, George, and Shane he had enough. He scrunched up his face and dropped the clipboard on the counter  
“Fine if you're going to be a child about it don’t complain when you need something.”  
“Fine I won't Old man.”  
He couldn't help but cringing a little bit. That comment struck a little too close to home. She started walking out of the room before turning around to look at him  
“You know what you can take that clipboard and go fuck yourself.” Slamming the door of the clinic, she walked out. Stomping up the apartment steps, he decided some tea will calm him down. Maybe he will still make an attempt to go to the bar later.


	4. Chapter 4

Fern  
Who did the doctor think he was? Slamming the door to the farm, she paced for a bit before she decided to call Michael. She really needed to hear his voice right now. She gave a sigh as it rang before hanging up in frustration. She looked at her watch. The bar would still be open if she hurried.  
If Gus was surprised to see her return, he didn’t show it and slid a fresh mug of beer over without a word. Finding an empty booth she plopped down on it perfectly content to brood alone.  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a pair of glasses looking at her from the other booth. A girl around her age came up and stuck out her hand.  
“Hi you must be the new farmer. I’m Maru.”  
She seemed so happy and chipper. Still a little drunk, she shook her hand.  
“Fern. Nice to meet you. Sorry I’m a bit incoherent”.  
She nodded “It's ok, hard week?”  
She groaned and leaned back into the booth. “I don’t know if farming my thing plus the doctor here is creepy and annoying.”  
Maru laughed. “You know he’s my boss right” Fern slammed a hand over her mouth “Sorry I’m a bit drunk and he pissed me off today.” No sooner than she finished the sentence the doctor came through the door. Spotting Maru, he gave a wave before sitting alone at the counter. Fern rolled her eyes, just her luck. Maru tugged at her sleeve “Come on let's go talk to him. He’s a nice guy.” She let herself be pulled by Maru, too drunk to think of an excuse and didn’t want to explained how she slammed into him just a few hours ago. She listened to Maru chat about some project she was working on again, they seemed to have an easy going friendship and Fern wondered if there was anything more behind it than just being friends.  
“Have you met Fern?”  
The doctor narrowed his eyes “We’ve met.”  
Maru smiled “She lives in the farm west of town.”  
He nodded and took a drink of his water. In the dim light in her drunk addled state, she wondered how old he actually was.  
Shoving Fern a bit in front of her “Fern likes to read too.”  
The doctor looked unamused. Maru nudged Fern to continue the conversation and the only thing that came out of her mouth was “How old are you?”  
He narrowed his eyes at her “Too old.”  
Maru was left looking at Fern to looking at Harvey like she was watching a tennis match  
“Oh come on Doctor Harvey you're not that old. Hey you and Fern should meet up for dinner sometime and get to know each other I bet you have a lot in common”  
Fern backed away and shouted “No.” A bit too loudly and half the bar looked at her. “I have a boyfriend well he my fiancée but still.” Maru rolled her eyes  
“I wasn’t trying to set you up or anything I just thought maybe you should be friends.”  
“Thank you for the gesture Maru but I don’t know what I would have in common with somebody that looks like they got out of high school. Glancing at her beer “Can you even legally drink?”  
“Yes I can drink and no I didn’t just get out of High School? Are you going to tell me what to do again?” He tugged on his coat sleeve “You shouldn’t drink on anti depressants that's not good for you” Out of the corner of her eye she could see Maru cringe. Fern bit her lip and stormed out of the bar.  
She stomped down the path her boots leaving clouds of dust. As she passed by Leah's house, she noticed Shane walking home behind her. He paused “No ‘Hi lets be friends as we hold hands and walk into the sunset together’”.  
She dug her nails in her palms “Fuck off. I don't need the attitude”.  
“God what got your panties in a bunch?”  
“Go suck a dick.” she screamed and turned the path to her house. She could hear him laughing in the background. Not noticing a piece of wood she tripped and fell with a thud almost hitting a rock her vision going black for a moment. She could hear running then Shane's face.  
“You ok?”  
“Yeah sure I’m fucking fine.” She tried to move her foot but it hurt too much.  
“You don’t look fucking fine.”  
She gritted her teeth “Don't you have a hangover you need to get started?”  
Sighing he waved his hands up in the air. “Fine, Be a bitch like that have fun when the hawks come out and it gets cold.” and stomped away.  
She tried to pull herself up but she realized her knees were scraped along with her foot twisted. Looking at all the weeds she knew there was no way she could make it by crawling back to the house. She shifted herself hoping her pain would be lessened if she managed to get her leg straight.  
As the sky started to darken and the warm sunny day got a chill to it, she regretted sending Shane away. She wanted to cry, just sit there and bawl her heart out. Nothing was going her way, this entire plan was a complete disaster and she just wanted to go back to her apartment with Michael where the biggest decision she had to make was what co-worker she wouldn’t mentally kill that day. She hated it here, she missed her warm bed with the soft comforter, she missed Michael warm body just being an arm reach away, and mostly she missed being able to be in control of her life.  
She sat there mulling things over when she heard talking, she looked up briskly walking down the road were Maru holding some crutches with the doctor with his bag “God damn it to hell.” she muttered to herself. Looking down at her, he stopped.  
“So I heard you have a twisted foot.”  
Fern gave a sigh “Well no shit doctor it took how many years of medical school to figure that out.” He grabbed her and made her stand up using his body as support as Maru tucked the crutches underneath her arms.  
In a soft voice Maru asked “Think you can make it back to the clinic?”  
Feeling she had no choice but to go with them. All she just wanted to be left alone but she couldn't ignore the pain in her foot.  
Laying in the recovery room out of the corner of her eye, she could see the doctor moving around gathering things. Out of nowhere he appeared with a bottle of antiseptic and some gauze, “You scraped your face pretty bad. This is going to sting a bit,” he said in a calm voice. Not only did it sting a little but it fucking hurt and she reflexively kicked his glasses off with her unhurt leg. Rubbing his face he looked at her annoyed “if you're going to behave like a little girl, I’m going to have to sedate you.”  
It took every ounce of self-control to not make a sarcastic remark at his choice of wording. Any other person than him, it would sound like a challenge. Seeing her smirk she guessed he figured out what she was thinking before turning around embarrassed and shuffling off.  
She hated the hospital; she hated doctors. If her foot didn’t hurt as much as it did, she would be home in her own bed by now. Coming back with a frown and a large syringe of liquid he injected it in the IV bag.  
“This should keep you quiet and help with the pain.”  
“I don’t need drugs to be quiet.”  
“Well I need you to stay still. You didn’t break your foot but it's a nasty sprain.”  
“I figured that out already old man.”  
In a tired exasperated voice he asked, “Do you want me to call anybody, your boyfriend?”  
She shook her head feeling the drowsiness take over. She could just see Michael roll his eyes and tell her ‘to suck it up’ and be more annoyed than concerned. The Doctor gave a sigh as he put a blanket over her and checked the IV bag. The last thing she remembered is him talking loudly at Maru about the stubborn child before she drifted off to sleep.  
She awoke to a strange brightness; the clean sterile environment seemed to enhance everything around her. She reached for her glasses shoving them on hoping her eyes would hurt less. She saw the doctor asleep in a chair, his mouth open with a book in his lap. She felt a bit woozy from the painkillers but she could put weight on her foot. Noticing she no longer had the IV attached to her, she took the blanket off the bed and decided to put it over him, closed his book and put his glasses where he could see them when he woke up. Like all doctors offices it was unusually cold and she could already feel goosebumps forming on her arms as she put on her coat. She grabbed the crutches and made her way back to the farm. On the way home she absentmindedly reached into her coat pocket and found a small bottle of pain pills and a note. As expected the doctor's handwriting was a neat line of small letters.  
‘Try not to kill yourself getting home.’ She laughed. OK the Doc knew sarcasm, he wasn’t completely useless.  
Goldie had her ears low concerned as Fern got to the farm.  
“Poor pup I didn’t abandon you. I just got hurt.” Goldie sniffed her foot smelling hospital tail swishing low. She patted Goldie’s sides.  
“Good girl.”  
Maru came and checked on her sometime during lunch.  
“I figured you would much rather see me than him” as she looked at Fern’s foot.  
“Do you just hate all doctors or is it just Doctor Harvey?”  
“I hate all doctors. I don’t like being told what to do.”  
She shook her head and smiled “He’s not so bad once you get to know him.”  
Fern motioned up and down “so are you two a thing?”  
“Oh no he’s older than my dad, anyways it's kinda hard to have a crush on somebody when you have to explain them how the printer works once a week.” Maru laughed at her own joke.  
“Seriously if you're going to be staying for awhile, you will need to get friendly with everybody.” Fern groaned  
“I rather sprain my foot again.”

Harvey  
He slammed the door closed a bit to hard and Maru jumped. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he turned to her.  
“I’m sorry it's just patients like that are exasperating. Ironic isn’t it right after she gives me a speech about not needing any help, we have to rescue her from the side of the road. I’m pretty sure if she hadn't been drinking she would be able to walk home.”  
“Doc don’t you think you're being a bit to hard on her? After all she is new and still settling in.”  
“Maru in my years of being a doctor, you realize there are several kinds of patients. Ones who appreciate help and ones who don’t are too stubborn to realize it.”  
“Harvey I don’t know why…” she trailed off and narrowed her eyes at him “Oh my gosh, you like her”.  
He spun around “Are you implying what I think you are?”  
She let out a small squeal “You do have a crush on her! That’s adorable.”  
“There are so many things wrong with your accusation. Number one, she’s old enough to be my daughter, Number two, she's my patient, number three she already has a boyfriend.”  
“Oh please if she had a boyfriend, why didn’t he come with her? I know if I was madly in love with the person I was going to marry, I would follow them anywhere, also why didn’t she call him when she got hurt? Most likely he’s a horrible boyfriend and they're having trouble.”  
“Even so, she’s impractical to have a relationship with and I would rather not be the rebound relationship if she is going to go back to her boyfriend.” He shook his head.  
Putting her hands on the counter “Can I be you guys godparent?”  
“Maru!”  
She smiled innocently at him.  
“Look it's late. Go home before your dad starts worrying.”  
Grabbing her bag “Fine I’ll leave you two alone then.” Turning to him with a smile “Good luck Romeo.”  
He took a look in on Fern and found her sleeping before he headed up to his apartment and changed out of his work clothes and make a cup of tea. The one good thing about having only one mug was less dishes to wash. Grabbing a book, he decided he would sleep in the recovery room just in case Fern woke up and was confused about being in a strange place.  
Knowing her, she would probably leave as soon as she woke up. He rustled around grabbing a bottle and wrote her a note. Going downstairs he spotted her jacket hanging on the edge of the bed slipping the pills and note inside a pocket. At least if she left, he had peace of mind that she would be somewhat ok.  
He did his best to make himself comfy and opened his book before giving her one last look. Eventually he fell asleep.  
As expected she and the crutches were gone by morning. He scratched his head, not remembering when he took his glasses off. Standing up he noticed the blanket fall to the ground. He definitely didn’t remember that. He looked and realized it was the blanket he put over Fern. A smile spread on his face and he folded up the blanket.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I felt these chapters were a bit short you get two today.

Fern  
The egg festival was uneventful Abigail winning by a landslide. Fern swore she saw Vincent crying behind the mayor's truck. All this fuss over a straw hat. Abigail must have ten of them already considering the other towns people commenting on how she wins every year. Fern got to talk to almost everybody getting to know them. Standing in a corner looking at her punch, she sighed thankfully to have a quiet moment. Socializing was hard for her and she was never good with small talk. Sniffing the cup, she looked at Pam hanging by the punch bowl looking innocent. She took a cautious sip watching as Lewis starting to move over to Pam. So far Fern was enjoying all this small town drama. A voice behind her almost made her drop her cup.  
“I said how’s your foot?” She looked at the doctor his hair was pushed back exposing his forehead making it look larger than it already was, older.  
She took another sip from her punch not making eye contact “It's fine.”  
He nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets “I’m sorry I got mad at you. It was unprofessional.”  
She gave a slight it's ok nod. Fern watched as an argument started between Pam, Mayor Lewis, and Gus.  
The doctor motioned to the cup “I would be careful drinking that. Pam puts alcohol it every year, in fact I think she put alcohol in last years Luau soup.”  
“I kinda figured that. Anyways it makes my foot hurt less and time pass a bit quicker.”  
The doctor looked concerned “Do you want me to look at it again?”  
She shook her head no.  
“Well hopefully you're staying off it.”  
“Thanks for the painkillers.”  
He nodded “If you need more just stop by.”  
They stood there in silence for a moment “You have a pond right?”  
She nodded  
“Try relaxing your foot in some water and moving it around. It will help...”  
She took a final sip from her cup “I guess this festivals over with.” Tilting her head to a crying Penny who was dragging her mom to the trailer.  
Harvey shook his head and looked like he was going to say something but didn’t. Getting up he started walking up towards them “I'm going to see if Penny is ok” She nodded not sure how to respond.  
\---  
The next time their paths met was at the flower dance. She saw Maru and the Doctor talking to each other and she felt a pang of loneliness, the fact that everybody had someone even if it was a friend and she felt like she was the outsider. It reminded her of some of the many first day of schools. It wasn’t that she was jealous of Maru in the back of her mind. I guess she was hoping the Doc would at least say hi to her. She laughed at herself “I must be losing it.”  
Shane came up next to her holding a beer “Stupid ceremony. Don’t tell me you like this stuff?”  
“No, it's just nice to be included.”  
He shook his head “Marnie sent me over to ask about the dog.”  
“Oh yeah she’s fine, loves to dig and bark.”  
Getting the information he needed, she watched him go back to Marnie.  
Looking at her watch, she wondered if she could sneak out and go home without being noticed.

Harvey  
He couldn’t help but notice she looked lonely. He was talking to Maru chatting about the festival when out of the corner of his eye he saw her. He had seen her a few times in town since she sprained her foot trying to ignore her limp. When Robin came to ask Maru something he politely excused himself and walked over to see how Fern’s foot was doing. As usual he had no idea what to say to her and awkwardly made his way through a conversation.  
”Stupid little girl, stupid you” he sighed. He way way too old for this. Suddenly acting like a teenager again all tongue tied and stammering. People in general made him feel awkward but being around that girl made him a bit worse. Was he getting so desperate he would fall for the first girl that came to town. He wrote a sticky note to set an appointment with his therapist. Hopefully he could sort everything out.  
He decided the best way to deal with his stupid crush was just to stay away. Once he knew she was fine and in no danger, he kept his distance sticking to the clinic. Maru brought Fern in a few times chatting with her while Harvey stuck to the exam room doing paperwork. Occasionally he would pick some of their conversations but mostly It was just her talking about her boyfriend.  
Instead of going to the bar, he booted up his computer to see if he could find anything interesting medical articles to read and pass the time. Checking his email out of habit, his throat closed up when he saw he had one from Bethany Rodosky. If there was ever something close to the one who got away, Bethany would be it. He was hopelessly in love with her all through high school finally confessing his feelings to get turned down. Three months out of school, she ran off and got married and he lost track of her. He decided to just ignore the email and not even bothering to read it. He had enough excitement to last him for a while.


	6. Chapter 6

Fern  
By summer, she was sure she wasn’t cut out for this. Only five of her plants managed to grow and they seemed smaller than normal. Flipping through her book, she had no idea where she went wrong. She thought she did everything right. Kicking a dead plant with her foot she tried not to cry. She went into the house and decided to call Michael. She just wanted to hear the voice of someone. Realizing her phone wasn’t working, she hiked the hill to Pierre's. His store was somewhat full since it was early on a Monday and she had to shift herself to reach him. “I was wondering if I could use your phone to call my fiancée?” He nodded and moved the phone to her. She didn’t get an answer so she left a message  
“Sorry my phone isn’t working. I guess it tends to do that,” She could feel a few eyes looking at her “I just wanted to say I miss you and love you, hope work is treating you good” Hanging up the phone she wondered if she would of been so sentimental if she was alone. I guess she wanted to prove that she did in fact have a fiancée and that she loved him.  
Giving him a thank you and tossing him an apple from one of the trees that manage to produce fruit, she decided to turn in some artefacts to the museum that she had dug out of the ground during her crop planting.  
This is the first time she had interacted with Penny. Sometimes she saw her around with Vincent and Jas but she never went out of her way to talk to her. Despite their joint love of books, Penny felt too wholesome and innocent, like she wouldn’t understands Fern’s jokes.  
Penny looked up with her with her large green eyes. “What's your farm's name?”  
“Name? I don't have a name I just call it the farm, I know some people call it Travis farm but I didn't know my grandpa that well and it just feels odd calling it that.”  
“All farms have to have a name.” She rolled out her chair and walked to the bookshelf fingers dancing along spines. Pulling a book out she handed to her. “Maybe you can get some inspiration.” She stuck the book in her bag and headed to the bar.  
She walked up to Shane “You wanna sit with me? I’ll buy you a round.” Lately she was trying hard to make friends and interacting with Shane seemed like the greatest challenge. Plus she liked listening to him bitch about Joja.  
Sliding to the opposite end of the booth, he looked at her over the beer  
“Do you like me or something girly?”  
“No oh god no.” Seeing his face she backtracked “I mean you're a nice guy and all that shit but you're probably the only person that hates things as much as me. I see you as a kindred spirit that got fucked in the ass by life.”  
He laughed sloping beer over his shirt. She waved her hand to the rest of the bar “Everybody so damn cheerful and happy and me and you just sit here and complain about life and I like it. I like somebody to rant to, somebody who won’t try to get all positive at me.” She changed the subject “Anyways I talked to Marnie about getting some chickens and she mentioned you knew a bit more about them than her.”  
“Yeah I know some stuff.”  
She smiled at him and shoved her mug of beer forward, “I don’t think I can finish the rest of this if you're not worried about girl cooties you can have it.”  
Shane looked up “Sometimes I wish I was a chicken nothing to worry about just pecking the ground for food, a nice coop to sleep in, no worries about jobs or rent.”  
“Why do you do it? I mean I know you have to live but what drives you to go into a crappy job everyday, put a smile on your face and take shit for the day?“  
“Jas is my goddaughter, somebody has to take care of her. Most of my pay check goes for clothing and things for her. Sure Marnie helps a bit but I’m lucky if I have enough to pay off my tab at the end of the month.” She smiled at him and reached over to touch his hand and noticed he flinched and narrowed his eyes.  
“What’s your game farmer?”  
“Huh?”  
“Everybody has their spots to fill in to make this town work; the jock, the rebel, the prissy girl, the bookworm, the guy who hates everything. What's your game?  
“I don't know. I don't have a game. I guess I'm just me. Anyways I don’t plan on staying”  
“Everybody who moves to this town who doesn't plan to, eventually stays it's like some black hole”  
“Well I have a set of plans, farming is not my thing”  
He murmured something in his beer glass. He waved his drunken hand to the rest of the bar.  
“Despite my gruff exterior and my hatred for people, I actually care for them and appreciate the help they have done and accepting me and Jas. I mean everybody treats everybody like they're family, no questions asked even if I’m shitty to them. They just don't care. They still say hello to me, smile and invite me to stupid town festivals.”  
“Well when I get chickens you can come over and bring Jas too.” She swore she saw a hint of a smile.

Harvey  
He hated going to the city. It was always too crowded but he had to load up on supplies and take care of business. Sometimes he could get Maru to go for him but if he needed medication refills or had an appointment with his therapist, he went himself.  
Sitting on the couch he sighed. Dr. Walker set his hands in his lap.  
“So what's new with you Harvey?”  
“Nothing everything is still the same.”  
“Well it clearly looks like something is bothering you. Are you still feeling overworked?”  
“Yes and it feels like my patients don’t appreciate me sometimes.”  
“Well that happens in the medical field. We want to help but people don’t accept it.”  
“It's just this new girl moved to town and right after she gave me a speech about not needing any help, she sprains her foot.”  
“And you like this girl?”  
“A little. She’s nice and determined but she has a boyfriend back home and she’s too young for me.”  
“She’s eighteen right?”  
“Yes I think a bit older in her twenties around my assistants age.”  
“I don’t see the problem with age if you have plenty of things in common and to talk about. I dealt with some adults who are mature as five year olds and vice versa, what matters is the person inside. I could however see the problem of her being in a relationship.”  
Harvey shook his head. “I’m sure this stupid crush will go away after awhile and anyway she doesn't have plans to stay long anyway. Do you think I might need to go on a higher dose of my medication?”  
“What I think is you’re lonely and depressed but use your work as an excuse to hide it. I’m going to recommend what I said before, go out and make friends, be social, enjoy life outside of work.”  
“It's just not easy.”  
“Well life isn’t easy but we have to do the best we can.”


	7. Chapter 7

Fern  
Walking through town late at night, she heard a bit of rattling and saw the man who always hung out by the mines, Linus she thinks, digging in trash cans. She could see George come out noticing her “It's those damn raccoons. Can you scare them off for me?”  
Turning the corner she found Linus  
“It was me sorry. It's just I find a lot of hot fresh food in these cans. It would go to waste if I don’t take it.”  
"No, I agree it's a shame to waste perfectly good food."  
“You can go on home. I promise I won't rummage in George’s can again.”  
She walked back to George "Don’t worry. The raccoons are gone for good."  
He smiled “Aren't you a nice girl. Your grandfather would be proud. I'll have to tell my wife to bake you some cookies.”  
She saw that Linus moved to look in the Saloon’s trashcan and was caught by Gus  
“Wait Linus, I know what you were doing. Look if you need food just ask. I don't want anybody going hungry. I honestly don’t mind and I hate throwing things out. Do you want a basket of zucchini fritters? Make sure you dip them in my marinara”.  
After that Fern tried to go out of her way to say hello to him and bring him something from the farm.  
“You know I was good friends with your grandpa”  
“I don’t remember him.”  
“You have his determined spirit.”  
She sighed, “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m cut out for the farm. It just seems everything is going wrong”  
“Well just keep at it results take time”  
“I guess I just hate being lonely”  
“Well as long as you don’t throw rocks at my tent I’ll talk to you”

Harvey  
Flu season had its ups and downs. The negative that he was overworked, the positive being he had more patients and slightly more income. It still didn’t help the fact that he crashed into sleep at six in the afternoon and had to drag himself out of the bed at five in the morning and still felt tired. He even missed the annual Feast of the Winterstar and had spent his birthday with Sam trying to wrestle a non compliant Vincent to give him his shots.  
Looking out the window he noticed it snowing and instantly got worried. He decided he would pay George and Evelyn a visit just to make sure they were ok, maybe check on Linus. Ignoring his tiredness he put on a coat and a hat and trudged out to make his rounds.  
By the time he checked most of the town he felt dead on his feet. Suddenly his coat felt warm and he had to pull it off. Pressing a hand on his forehead, he realized he had a fever. If he could just make it to the clinic he would be fine maybe some rest and soup. The snow started falling down harder and between the flurries and feeling weak, he was having a hard time seeing. He shoved up his glasses as he reached for the key to the clinic letting himself in. Suddenly he felt dizzy and grabbed on the counter to support himself. Slowly he walked to the exam room to get some aspirin. He felt like his legs were going to give out and managed to pull himself into a chair before everything got all fuzzy and blank.


	8. Chapter 8

Fern  
She trudged through the snow that was quickly falling, making it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of her. Noticing Dr. Harvey's light was on, she thought it was strange usually he was in bed by now. She paused for a few seconds at the door. The clinic looking warm and inviting. She bundled up her hoodie and continued. Losing her footing she took a step off of the path, sinking to her knees in the snow. Cursing to herself she decided let pride be damned and went back to the clinic.   
She knocked not getting an answer and getting colder by the second. She tentatively pulled on the door to find it unlocked. She stuck her head in and looked around before she stepped in. The warmth was instantly overwhelming and calmed her down.  
“Harvey?” She called out, looking up the stairs to his apartment over the clinic. All she could hear was silence. She looked into the exam room to find him huddled up in a chair, his glasses askew.  
“Did you work until you passed out, figures old man.” She reached over to touch him and felt that he was warm, unusually warm. She brought his head up to her face noticing his eyes were unfocused.  
“Harvey come on, this isn’t funny.” The beginnings of a panic attack starting in her stomach. His breathing was loud and raspy. Fern didn’t know much about medical diagnosing but she knew he shouldn’t sound like that. She grabbed him underneath his armpits and pulled him out of the chair. Heaving his body the best she could as they both made it up the stairs.  
“You're so heavy. Do you carry rocks in your pocket or something, oh wait that's me.” She chuckled unsure of her joke expecting some reaction. Luckily the door to his apartment was unlocked so using her hip she opened the door. She managed to get him into bed with the covers over him. He mumbled something illegible and rolled over. She looked around and saw his phone sitting next to an address book. His neat handwriting had practically everybody in town in alphabetical order. Finding Maru’s number, she dialed hoping she could get her.  
“Doc you better have a reason to call me this late.”  
“It's Fern, look I found the Doc completely out of it. I don’t know what's wrong. Can you come over?”  
“There is five feet of snow outside. If I could make it, I would but my dad will kill me.” She paused and she could hear rustling “Ok tell me what's wrong.”  
“He has a fever, he’s super warm even though he is shivering. His breathing is a bit raspy.”  
She heard Maru flipping through a book “Sounds like Pneumonia. Get a pencil and paper and write down exactly what I tell you to do. I’ll try and be there as soon as the snow lets up.”  
Nodding Fern wrote down what she told her as carefully as she could, trying to hold down her panic attack. As soon as she got off the phone, she walked downstairs and scanned the pharmacy looking for the antibiotics Maru told her to give him. She made it back upstairs, Harvey having not moved. He was covered in feverish sweat and she briefly wondered if she should change his clothing. Moving around, she found a shirt and pajama bottoms in his dresser.  
“Alright Old man, I'm not trying to feel you up so you're going to have to help me.” Fern did her best to undress him making sure she didn’t touch or see anything important and after struggling with his limp body she managed to get the dry clothes on him. Mumbling something he did his best to sit up   
“Ok, Maru told me to give you this, can you swallow?” He moved his head in a way that she guessed was a nod and she managed to get him to take the meds then fell back in bed. Sitting down on his couch with a sigh suddenly exhausted she rummaged around in her backpack, she took some anxiety medication and waited for them to take effect.   
Laying on his couch, she looked around his apartment. It was like her house. It was one room but had a kitchen, small but livable with a bathroom off to the side. He had a neat bookcase by his bed, a table full of paints and plastic parts, a complicated radio setup in the corner. She wiggled into the couch to get comfortable. Looked liked he really like planes then. Besides the table, his apartment was neat with everything in their place. She figured she should stay close by in case he needed something and shifted so he could see him. He looked so helpless lying there and she had no idea what to do. She felt like a horrible person. Ok maybe she should be nicer to him after all he could have died if it got worse. She pulled her hoodie over her as a makeshift blanket before the meds kicked in and she crashed.  
She awoke to somebody putting a blanket over her and sliding her glasses off. Still groggy from sleep and her anxiety medicine she opened her eyes to see Harvey. “You should be in bed resting”.  
“I will. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”  
Pointing to his bed “Go now and you need to take the medication in the cup.”   
Nodding he chuckled to himself “All right little girl.”  
When she awoke again she could hear him snoring in his bed his breathing sounding more normal and color was back in his face. She began to relax, whatever she did she did it right. Her stomach growled so she wandered to his kitchen. Hopefully he wouldn't mind her getting something to eat. Opening the fridge she saw boxes of TV dinners. Making a face she grabbed the only apple he had and noticed it was one she gave him. She made a mental note to herself to bring him more food once the crops come in spring. Wandering over to his bookcase she saw medical texts, various airplane books with a small collection of science fiction. She pulled out a book she remembered vaguely reading in high school and sat back on the couch pulling the blanket over her. ‘So this is how he lives.’ Thinking to herself, radio books and TV dinners, not that her life was much better. She looked over at him sleeping She felt a pang of sympathy and wondered if this was to become of her life in a few years if Michael doesn't make up his mind. Suddenly with clarity she remembered today was her birthday. Looking over at Harvey she realized at least she wasn’t alone even if her only company was passed out.  
Passing her day by reading and checking up on Harvey to give him his medication, she felt strangely content. She didn’t know why but his apartment was welcoming perhaps because he filled every nook and cranny with something that was special. Despite it being clean, it felt lived in and lulled her. She awoke to Maru and Harvey talking at his worktable. Sitting up slowly her arms stiff from the couch, she peered over at them  
“You did a wonderful job taking care of him. You’re a natural.” She felt a blush rise to her cheeks  
“well I didn't want him to die.”   
Getting up Maru said, “Well you still did a wonderful job. Hope you two had fun. I'll check up on you later”   
As she watched, Maru let herself out. Her and Harvey sat there in awkward silence, him looking at his feet avoiding eye contact. “Well thank you for not letting me die.” he said with a smile.   
Suddenly she felt angry. Angry at him for ignoring himself, angry at him for being a hypocrite, angry at him because he could of died.  
“For somebody so anal about taking care of yourself, you don't practice what you preach.”  
He blushed “Well I’m just too busy and it's easy to get overwhelmed in this job, I am the only doctor in town.”  
She gave him a serious look “You scared me.”   
He looked down at his feet again “Sorry I’ll try not to do it again.”  
Walking over to him she poked his chest.  
“Better not old man or you never hear the end of it”. She didn’t know why but she had the urge to give him a hug. The top of her head resting on his chest. The entire angry speech she rehearsed in her head felt stupid now. She could feel him breathing on the top of her head and for a second she couldn’t help but smell him. Pulling away embarrassed she said, “I better go home and make sure my house is in one piece”. Nodding he held up his hand “Take my coat and a hat. It's still freezing outside”. She nodded pulling his coat on almost going to her ankles.  
“Take care alright?” As she walked home, she tried to ignore the odd feeling in her stomach and the sudden onset of loneliness.

Harvey  
His dreams were full of uncomfortable thoughts, on the edge of nightmares. Visions of his father yelling at him telling him that nobody could ever love somebody like him. Flashbacks of him running up the stairs of his childhood home to find every trace of his mother gone like she didn’t exist. Then everything shifted and somebody was talking soft to him. small fingers not his own taking his damp shirt off and putting a dry one on. Opening his eyes he saw the farmer looking at him with worried eyes trying to talk to him, pleading at him to do something. He saw her handing him a glass of water and some pills and took them then falling back in bed and returning to sleep.  
He instantly realized he was in his own bed and bolted up. His lungs were in pain and he noticed his breathing was labored. He looked at his shirt for a moment to realize that it was one he didn’t usually wear. He fumbled for his light and found a note and a cup of medication on his bedside table. Squinting he saw that somebody had written instructions on the note. He reached for the usual place for his glasses but they went there. Spotting them on the table, he unsteadily walked and shoved them on. The room was slightly amiss. Someone had been there, changed his clothes and got the right treatment. The only person who could of done it was Maru. He looked out the window there had to be more than a few feet of snow out there. He heard a rustle and peered over at his couch and noticed a pair of feet. Looking over he found Fern curled up in a ball clutching her jacket. Going to the shelf where he had extra blankets he tried to pick a warm one and gently covered her and slid off her glasses carefully. She stirred and looked at him.  
“You should be in bed resting”.  
“I will. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”   
She pointed to the bed “Go now and you need to take the medication in the cup”.   
He couldn’t help but grin. “All right little girl.”   
She gave him another stern look before yawning and lying back down. He watched her for a few seconds noticing her usual pigtails came loose during the night leaving her hair rumpled. He longed to reach over and brush the hair from her face and his hand hovered awkwardly for a moment. Sighing to himself, he got a glass of water and took his pills.   
In his dreams his dog was always waiting for him to come home happy to see him. In his dreams the farmer, Fern named after a vascular plant, waited for him to come home smiling as he talked about his day.  
He awoke to somebody poking him and shoved his glasses on to find Maru.  
“Hey Doc how do you feel?”  
“Tired woozy but better.” She stuck a thermometer in his mouth and somehow got his stethoscope to listen to his chest.  
“Your breathing sounds normal and your fever is down. That's good.” He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts.  
“I swear I had the strangest dream… Anyway thanks for taking care of me.”  
“I don’t deserve all the credit. Fern did most of the work.”   
So it wasn’t a dream then. He looked up to see her boots on the arm of his couch.   
Maru gave him a huge smile. “Yeah she called me late at night saying she found you passed out. I managed to give her instructions double-checking to make sure they were right and she took care of you. It was adorable, well not so much when she called me frantic but the fact that she was worried and stayed with you.”   
Hearing movement, they both looked to find Fern looking over the couch.  
Maru gave her a thumbs up “You did a wonderful job taking care of him. You're a natural.” Harvey swore she saw Fern blush.  
“Well I didn't want him to die.”  
Knowing that he was Ok Maru got up “Well you still did a wonderful job. Hope you two had fun. I'll check up on you later”   
Closing the door, Maru left Harvey and Fern alone. Out of the corner of his eye he could tell she was pissed.  
Not knowing what to say he shrugged “Well thank you for not letting me die.”  
Letting out a huff “For somebody so anal about taking care of yourself, you don't practice what you preach.”  
He stammered trying to string words together “Well I’m just too busy and it's easy to get overwhelmed in this job. I am the only doctor in town.”  
Her body sagged in defeat and she looked at him like she was going to cry.  
“You scared me.”  
He felt awful “Sorry I’ll try not to do it again.”  
She took a step forward relaxing and poked his chest.  
“Better not old man or you’ll never hear the end of it.”  
He smiled sheepishly at her and she surprised him by pulling him into a hug. His heart speed up when she rested her head on his chest for a few seconds. He attempted to regulate his breathing. He had no idea if it was the medication or him being sick but suddenly he felt light headed. When she pulled back, he missed her warmth.  
“I better go home and make sure my house is in one piece.”  
Still slightly dazed he watched her put on her coat. Suddenly he grabbed the hat and jacket he had worn the previous day and handed them to her.  
“Take my coat and a hat. It’s still freezing outside.”  
She nodded and gave him a smile “Take care alright?”  
Nodding back, he felt for the edge of the chair suddenly feeling like if he didn’t sit his legs would give out. Sighing he put his head onto his table. There was no denying it now. He was in love with her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter I'll post another one later tonight to make up for it.

Fern  
For some reason she didn’t return his coat right away. She figured he had more than one green coat considering he had an entire dresser drawer devoted to white shirts. She stuck the little information she knew about him in the back of her brain feeling somewhat special. During one of her runs into town to pick up seeds on the first day of spring she ran into Maru  
“Hey Fern can you do me a favor?” She reached in her pocket and handed her some gold  
“Can you get Harvey a coffee at Gus’s? I got side tracked. Just tell Gus it's for the Doc, he knows exactly how he likes it”  
Handing him the coffee, Harvey smiled at her and this is the first time she noticed really noticed. His smile was wide. It went into his cheeks and puffed them out. Fern swore his eyes changed color for a second. He looked like pure joy and happiness. Fern wished she had something to smile like that about. Her chest gave a strange lurch and suddenly the room felt small and too warm and she dropped the coffee down with a plop.  
His deep voice called out for her, “Fern wait.”  
Her hand hovered over the handle.  
“Can you bring my coat back? You can keep the hat but I need the coat.”  
She nodded and let herself out.

Harvey  
Another afternoon of exercising and he was exhausted. Grabbing his stuff he said goodbye to the girls and walked out as he turned the corner he slammed into Fern yet again.  
“We got to stop meeting up like this” He laughed.  
Harvey felt embarrassed “Were you watching me?”  
“No Maru told me you stepped in here. I just got here”.  
“I didn’t want anybody to know least of all not you”  
“I’m sorry i’m laughing but you kinda look adorable”  
“Just trying to stay healthy as you get older it requires more effort He shook his head glancing back at the door. I’m not in good shape I can’t keep up with them... Can you not tell anyone in town I’m doing dance aerobics”  
Trying to hold off a giggle “Don’t worry I won’t tell anybody, anyways nice headband by the way.  
Harvey blushed reaching up pulling it off unable to forget the fact she called him adorable. He couldn’t help but notice she was wearing his hat. He was never a hat person but he had a few to go out in the cold in since most of your body heat escapes from the head. She had pulled the hat almost down to her glasses her pigtails sticking out of the bottom. He wanted to tell her how adorable she looked like that and wished he was more open with his words like she was.  
He did his best to make small talk asking her if she had read any good books at the library. Mostly it was to distract himself from looking at her. She gave him a wave as he left the door jingling as she walked out and Harvey leaned himself on the wall.  
Pierre gave him a strange look and reached under the counter and pulled out flowers. “Just tell the girl you like her”  
Great now the entire town is going to know. Grabbing his newspaper and putting a few coins on the counter he headed back to the clinic.  
\---  
After work was done he turned to his computer and checked his email. Telling himself to man up he decided to open the email from Bethany.

_Hey_  
Was wondering what your up to. Just moved back would love to catch up with you. Maybe get a bite to eat. I don’t even know if this is still your email anymore. Anyway, if it is send me a message  
XO Bethy

He saved it in a folder, its not like he had to respond right away after all it was just lunch. Hearing a knock, he went in the waiting room to open the door. Folded on the steps was his jacket. Picking it up and dusting it off he put it on. He couldn’t help but noticed it smelled like her. He took a deep breath and got lost in his thoughts for a moment. He stuck his hand in his pocket to find a note. In her large handwriting that took up most of the paper. ‘Try not to kill yourself getting home.’ He closed the door and turned to his computer to write a response to Bethany.


	10. Chapter 10

Fern  
She hiked up the hill after making most of her rounds for the day. Finding Linus gone she put some food in the safety of the tent and hoped he will be back soon. Sitting down to rest she noticed the mine. Fumbling in her bag she remembered she brought her pickaxe and decided to go investigate. She lit up a torch and looked around. Broken elevator, broken minecart, stairs. She stick her head in the hole but it was to dark for her to see anything. The practical side told her she should stay away, go home and quarry all the stones on her farm. She stuck a torch down the hole and down a few rungs on the ladder. So far it wasn’t so bad after all Abigail said she came down here all the time. Stepping down a few more rungs she was about a foot from the bottom. She saw something move and swung the torch round at the direction.  
She jumped to the ground slowly turning around in a circle looking at everything. On the plus side it was cooler and offered her some relief. She saw something shiny in the corner and went to go exam it. “Neat quartz” Her voice echoing on the walls. She poised her pick axe when something charged at her. She shook her leg trying to get the jelly looking thing off before she swung her pick axe. She missed the jelly mound and tore through her pants her leg bleeding. “Fuck fuck fuck” She attempted to run up the stairs but the thing lunged at her again pulling her down to the ground. Suddenly all she could see was green. Swinging her pick axe and using her backpack as a shield she made another attempt for the stairs. She had almost made it before everything went dim and black.  
She knew where she was before she opened her eyes judging how cold it was. “Shit”  
“For somebody who said they didn’t need my help you seem to come in frequently” Harvey took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.  
“Look I put blame myself on this one can we please not make a big deal about it”  
She had a feeling he wanted to say something but look to tired too.  
Harvey reached down and inspected her bandage on her leg and she studied his face without his glasses obscuring them.  
“I’m most likely putting your future kids through college, you need to get around to sending me a bill”  
He looked at her distracted as if he wasn’t listening to everything. “Oh no charge”  
“How do you expect to make a living”  
He chuckled “I don’t I don’t do this for the money I just do it because I care, now if you go in the mines and I have to crawl out of my nice warm bed to drag you in here then I’m going to charge you. I know you probably make just enough money to feed yourself and I would feel bad if you had to cut back on essentials just so you can play a medical bill”.  
“Well thanks Harvey I’ll make sure to bring you more food and coffee”.  
He sighed shoving his glasses back on. “It’s pretty late and you should get some sleep I recommend for you to stay in the clinic for the night if you need anything knock on my door”.  
She had a feeling if it wasn’t for her taking care of him when he was sick he would of had more to say. Pulling the uncomfortable sheets around her she did her best to get used to a strange bed. Right when she was drifting off to sleep she felt Harvey put a blanket over her.  
“Thanks old man” She reached over and touched his hand “Thanks for everything”.  
“Get some sleep little girl and try not to injure yourself between now and when I get up” He walked across the room and turned the light off.  
\---  
She was trying to take it easy after her last experience at the mines and sticking close to home Goldie following her around happy to have her nearby but also worried and sniffing her leg.  
She had to admit having a dog had its advantages. Goldie kept her entertained as she worked outside thumping her tail whenever she saw her. Sometimes Goldie would get so excited she would take off in a run and faceplant into the farm wall. Fern didn’t have any other dogs to compare to and wondered if it was normal.  
One morning she went outside to not find Goldie missing from her pen. Fern stood on a log and looked around. “Fuck where is that dog” She looked in most of her favorite spots, behind the farmhouse, in the patch of grass Fern had to make hay, in the empty cave. That dog was nowhere. She was about to walk over to see if she wandered to Marnie’s when she noticed the gate to the chicken coop fence was ajar. “Oh hell no!” Fern ran in expecting to find a pile of feathers but instead Goldie was sleeping in a pile of hay her coat covered in chicken droppings. Thumping her tail and giving Fern the most innocent look she was capable of Fern grabbed her by the collar and led her out wondering How can a dog smell that bad.Goldie just wagged her tail. With all the strength she could muster she shoved Goldie in the pond closest to the house. Goldie was having none of it. Dispute being a retriever whatever else she was mixed with was a breed that didn’t like water”. Goldie lunged knocking Fern into the lake before taking off in a run to find some grass to roll in.  
Shane and Jas came around the corner. Shane covered his mouth to keep from snickering “Jas begged me to take her to see the chickens, You ok”.  
“Usually when people ask me if i’m ok, I’m not. Stupid dog smells and won’t let me clean her”  
Shane patted his leg. “Come dog” Goldie came and sat at Shane's feet.  
Pointing to the pond “In”.  
Ferns eyes went wide as Goldie stepped in swimming a few feet to meet Fern.  
“How did you do that”  
“I just asked politely”  
She climbed out of the pond trying not to expose her clingy wet clothes to Shane.  
“I don’t think I ever seen you do anything politely”.  
He smirked “You go change I’ll take care of the dog”  
Jas looked at her up and down “Do you know you have pawprints on your back”  
“Come on change out of those clothes and we can go to the bar together, is half price night”  
\---  
The doctor was already there sitting in a seat next to Clint. She couldn’t tell what they were talking about but Doc waved his hands wildly trying to explain something. Her eyes lingered on Harvey a second too long and Shane noticed.  
He raised his eyebrow “what's with you and the Doctor?”  
“Nothing we're just friends”  
“Uhuh and I didn’t lose my virginity in the back of my prom date’s pick up truck.”  
“You went to prom? I can’t see you going to prom all dressed up in a suit taking a girl on a date.  
“Well enjoy that mental image when you go to sleep at night. Oh wait you probably think of Doc, Stop changing the subject”  
“Look I don’t have a thing for him all right”  
He put a finger on his chin looking at Fern to Harvey. “I bet you two are married by next year”.  
“Ok just for that you're not getting any of my food” She moved the plate away from Shane.  
“Oh come on Fern you can lie all you want to yourself, but I can see it even when i’m not sober”  
Harvey noticed her looked at her and smiled. Fern blushed and picked at her food not looking at Shane. “You have no idea what you're talking about two people can be friends without some hidden motive I mean I haven’t pounced on you have i? I spend as much time with you as with Doc.”  
“Yeah but you don’t stare at me wistfully like I’m your teacher who just taught you how to carry over the remainder”  
“I didn’t know today was national pick on Fern day”  
Shane sighed and mumbled under his breath “You're such a girl”. He leaned his head back and in no one in particular he mumbled “why do girls make things so complicated” And took a swig of his beer.  
Harvey  
He nervously drummed his fingers on the table and pulled out his pocket watch to check again on the time. As he figured Bethany was late. Taking another sip of his coffee he tried his best to compose himself.  
“Greggy? Oh geez you got tall”.  
He looked up and saw her almost exactly like he remembered her. Gorgeous and way out of his league. Suddenly feeling bashful he shoved his hands in his pockets.  
“You haven't changed a bit Bethy. What have you been up to?”  
“You know same old, same old. Same shit, different day. Rumor has it you're a doctor?”  
He nervously ran a hand through his hair.  
“Yeah I have a small practice in a town in the valley.”  
She nodded “Impressive, nice to know you’re doing good for yourself.”  
“I manage, how’s your kids?”  
“Fine the oldest one is going to start college maybe you can give him a recommendation.”  
Harvey opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out.  
“So how's the husband, I’m sorry I forgot his name.”  
She laughed “His name is nothing to remember, I’m divorced got separated a few months ago.”  
He nodded not knowing what to say and took another sip of coffee.  
They made small talk and Harvey felt more and more nervous. He attempted to pay attention to what she said but there was something he couldn't pinpoint about the situation that made him uncomfortable.  
“Look I have to go we should do this again Greggy. I’m sorry I wasn’t that nice to you at the end of high school it's just everything was changing so fast. It would be nice to get to know you again now that we're both adults”.  
Shaking her hand he was glad that that was over and done with.  
The drive home left him to think and sort out his thoughts. For some reason his visit with Bethany left a bad taste in his mouth, he couldn’t place what exactly what was wrong just something. Pulling the truck into Mayor Lewis spot he decided that an evening at the bar might clear his head.  
Fern was there sitting next to Shane leaning on him laughing. For a moment he felt jealous. Noticing him she waved enthusiastically “Doctor Harvey come sit with us”. He knew before he sat down she was drunk. Shane slid out of the booth.  
Pointing to his spot “I’m just going to be over there.”  
Fern griped on his arm.“No stay Shane”  
“Nah I’m done talking I need to fill my dark and brooding quota anyway.”  
“Fine” Fern pouted turning to Harvey.  
“So where were you today? I went to drop you a coffee but Maru said you were out.”  
“Had something I needed to take care of.”  
“So are you and Maru a thing?” she asked  
He looked at her taken aback “No why do you think that?”  
“Well you make her dress up in that nurses uniform.”  
He blushed “She chooses to dress like that. If she wanted to wear her normal clothes, I would be ok. Are you and Shane a thing?”  
“No he’s just my friend and is helping me learn about chickens, sometimes he gives me advice I don’t take”  
“And i thought you only did that just for me” He nodded eyeing Shane who was smirking at them in the corner.  
“So do you like anybody in town then?”  
He shifted nervously “Why are you so interested in my love life?”  
She took another sip of beer  
“You look like a lonely puppy who can’t find his way home.”  
He felt mildly insulted but remembered she was drunk.  
“Well either they're married or I been taking care of them since they were in diapers either choice is a bit creepy.”  
”Why don't you go out of the town to find somebody?”  
“Do you think I have time for that?” he laughed. “You’re lucky I have time for hanging out with you.”  
She hummed and transferred the cup from one had to the next. “If I had friends, I would try and set you up. He laughed, “Look at me Fern. Girls don’t go for guys like me. I’m lucky if a passing glance.”  
Leaning closer to him “Are you a virgin?”  
He dropped his water.  
“That’s an extremely personal question and I rather not have it in a bar with somebody drunk out of their mind.”  
She smiled to herself and waved a hand “I probably won't remember any of this tomorrow. What's your last name by the way?”  
“Its Harvey”  
“So your Harvey Harvey?”  
“I don’t like my first name”  
“You can’t just pretend your first name doesn't exist. Come on I’m not going to tell people.”  
“Can you drop the name issue?” he snapped angrily.  
She was unphased.  
He looked around for anyone to overhear their conversation. He flagged Shane over.  
“Can you get her home she’s pretty drunk?”  
“Oh old man I’m not that drunk”. Shane looked from Harvey to Fern amused  
“Why can’t you take her home Doctor?”  
“I think he’s afraid I’m going to take advantage of him.”  
He blushed again “No I just think that your alcohol is affecting your decisions and I want no part in them.”  
“I told you I’m not that drunk.” She eyed him down until Harvey looked away uncomfortably. Giggling to herself pulled her knees up to her chest. “Harvey can you please loosen up? I know you can. I see hints of it every now and then.” Before he could process what she was saying, she was pulling him by the shirt collar and gave him a kiss.  
He backed away almost knocking his chair down “Told you I’m not that drunk” She cooed feeling the side of his face.  
“Come on,” Shane laughed taking her by her elbow. “Let's get you home.”  
She turned to Harvey and gave him a small wave realizing he was still there in shock.  
He blinked and looked around “What the hell…”


	11. Chapter 11

Fern  
The next day she awoke to find her crops watered and her chickens fed along with a note from Shane with only the words “You're an ass”. Groaning she remembered the night before. She decided to go apologize to people.  
She had no idea what possessed her to kiss Harvey, maybe she just wanted to mess with him. He was so easy to rile up. She knew it was borderlining on mean but he looked so cute when Fern pushed him out of his comfort zone. Last night however she crossed the line between there almost flirting playful banter to something she was ashamed of. Harvey did nothing to deserve it He was nice, nicer than anybody Fern knew but it was his job to be nice. She shook her head. He wasn’t her type. Her type was more like Michael.   
Michael, There’s where the problem started. A few weeks back he responded to her rambling message.  
“Look Fern back off. You're not helping by being clingy.” Fern could hear a voice in the background and was tempted to ask who it was but didn’t want to push her boundaries. Early yesterday afternoon she came home from town to find him waiting. He went on a long speech about how she needed to understand boundaries. One thing led to another and they ended up having sex on the bed.  
“Just because we had sex doesn't mean we're back together understand.” He eyed her as he pulled his shirt back on.  
“Yeah I understand.”  
As soon as he left, she went to the saloon to get drunk and forget everything that happened. Apparently she got a bit to drunk.  
It was a cool summer day and with a basket of vegetables and a coffee, she walked into the clinic during lunchtime knowing Maru wasn't working that day. He wasn’t down stairs. She figured he had to be somewhere close by otherwise he would've locked it. Seeing his door to his apartment open she walked up. She found him headphones on in front of his radio talking. Noticing her, he grinned “I made contact with a real pilot”. He looked so giddy and overjoyed as he pulled her to the window to point the plane out to her. He gave a wistful sigh. “As a kid my dream was always be a pilot. But with my bad eyesight and crippling fear of heights the dream faded.” She touched his shoulder.  
“Doesn't mean you can’t do it now as a hobby once you work out your fear of heights”. He shook his head and looked back out the window. Fern didn’t intend to stay but he was so excited to share and show her his model planes, she just couldn’t walk away. She felt sorry for him having a dream only to have it being crushed by something stupid like fear of heights. Maybe he could find somebody patient and understanding he could get over his fear. Harvey mistook her look while she was thinking as sadness.  
Holding the plane he set it down gently “So now you know how much of a nerd I am, what are your hobbies?” She shrugged her shoulders.  
“I never had time for hobbies. It was work, work, and more work and whatever free time was with Michael.”  
“What about making yourself happy?”  
“I don't think I can ever be happy. Just as long as I don't jump the bridge, I should be fine.” He gave her a concerned look and she realized her brutally honest sense of humor was probably not a good idea around him. “I'm joking.” He came over and gave her a hug. His body felt solid and his arms were comforting. It took her a few moments to realize she was smelling him again and backed away from him  
“Don't worry. I’m taking my meds like a good girl and getting sunshine and all the crap the others told me.” He still looked worried “I'm going to be ok I promise. I just need to sort my life out.” Not knowing what to say and desperately wanting to get the subject off of her mental health, she muttered,  
“I’ve always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon. I used to see them all the time when I was a kid and was amazed by them.” He smiled at her and she felt her heart flutter.  
“Got to go.” She shoved the basket at him and took the stairs two at a time.  
The next day walking home from the mines into town, she saw Harvey leaning on the fountain by the community centre. He grinned at her  
“Nice day for some fresh air.”   
She nodded “It’s not as warm here as the city”  
She quickly came up with an idea.  
“Do you have some free time? I have something to show you.” He looked at his pocket watch  
“If we’re quick.”   
Smiling she grabbed his wrist.   
He struggled to keep up with her pace “Where are we going?” Pulling him up the hill she turned him around to face her.  
“Do you trust me?”   
He raised his eyebrows “Why do I have a feeling I’m going to regret this?”  
She laughed “Didn’t know sarcasm existed in your brain, I like it.”  
He gave a slight nod and Fern took that as a go ahead and took his hands in hers.   
“Ok Harvey focus on me.” She slowly turned him around until he was looking down at the valley from a cliff. Harvey made a noise and tried to back up.  
“Hey look at me ok. Look at the ground in front of you. You're safe. You’re several feet away from the edge and I’m in front of you. You're going to be ok.” His hands were shaking. Letting go of his hands she gently put her hands on his waist and moved him forward an inch.  
“Look at the view. Look at the trees, aren't they pretty?” She gave a sigh “This is my favorite spot in the valley. It's just so peaceful. I never got to see anything like this in the city, I never even got to see stars.” They sat in silence for a while and listened to the birds. He looked like he was beginning to relax. He gave her an uneasy smile but it was still a smile  
“Thank you Fern.” He took a step forward to her and she pulled him into a hug.  
“I’m sorry if I overstepped any boundaries lately. I just want to help and sometimes I’m not the best at being tactful or making good decisions.”   
He laughed “Don’t worry too much over it I’m ok. Yeah sometimes you're a bit overbearing but that's what makes you, you. Sometimes I wish I could just ignore everything and act on my feelings. It would make things simpler.”  
“Who says you can’t?”   
He looked at his watch “I better get going, my break was over ten minutes ago”.  
“Sorry do you want me to write you a note for Maru? ‘Excuse the doctor for being late because I went off on a tangent’”. He laughed and started walking.  
“You’re one special person, Michael is lucky to have you.” She felt an odd feeling in her chest she couldn’t place and for the rest of the walk home she couldn't look at him in the eye. She walked into the clinic with him and watched him pick up a stack of papers.  
“Guess I better let you get back to work”. He smiled at her  
“Thank you, Thank you for taking the time out in the day to see me, to help me, for bringing me food. I'm glad I have you as a friend and I will definitely miss this when you move back”. She didn’t know what to say.

Harvey  
He laid in bed unable to sleep, still thinking about that stupid kiss and the way she stoked his face. He knew she was drunk but no matter how much he tried to push it out of his mind it wouldn't go away. Even when he saw her in town his face grew warm thinking about her lips on his. She had shocked him he wasn’t expecting any of that but he had liked it.  
He glanced out the window not seeing light in the distance at the farm. He sighed to himself grabbed his coat and decided to take a walk.  
He liked looking at the stars he wasn’t as into astronomy as much as Maru but he liked them in an aesthetic kind of way. Spotting Linus he gave a wave.  
“How's it going?”  
“Fine fine, how are things with you?”  
“Alright I guess. Hope your drinking water in this heat. If you ever want to stop by, let me know no charge or anything.”  
He gave a toothy grin “Between you and Gus and the farmer, I got nothing to worry about.”  
Harvey tilted his head “The farmer?”  
“She’s such a sweetheart. She tries to give me food everyday.”  
He nodded. Why was the entire town obsessed with the farmer.  
“She is pretty nice.”  
“She talks about you a lot.”  
Harvey was taken aback “What does she say about me?”  
“Can’t go spreading confidential secrets about my friends around.”  
Pointing down to the bridge. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”  
He could see her tiredly dragging her backpack behind her. Harvey ran to catch up.  
“Need help?”  
She screamed and attempted to swing the sack at him.  
“Its you, don’t scare me like that Harvey! What are you doing up so late?”  
“Can’t sleep. Decided to take a walk and look at the stars.”  
She looked up “They are pretty nice.”  
“When I was younger, I always made wishes on them but they never came true”.  
Fern sighed “I don’t know I find luck and fate hard to believe.”  
Harvey waved to the air “Ok who crushed your sense of wonder? Go ahead make a wish and tell me if it comes true”  
She raised her eyebrows in a challange “You first.”  
He looked up at the sky and then at her. There was only one thing he wanted and he knew it would never happen.  
“All right made my wish”  
She nodded “Me too.”  
“Ok tell me if it ever comes true.”  
She rolled her eyes and picked up her bag. “I have chickens now you should come and take a look and make sure they're ok.”  
“I'm a people doctor not an animal doctor and I think Marnie would be insulted if you doubted the quality of her animals.”  
She laughed “Go to bed Harvey”  
He noticed she still had his hat on.


	12. Chapter 12

Fern  
She had hit her one-year mark of living there the previous season, and although farming didn’t get any easier she liked her chickens and often sat with them on cool days in the coop. Slowly she realized they had there own personalities and was strangely overjoyed to see them run up clucking when they saw her.  
It became part of her routine to stop by Harvey’s and bring him a cup of coffee. They had a weird friendship but Fern was thankful about it. Between him, Shane and Maru; she felt like she fitted in and was starting to regret moving back  
Harvey was examining Alex so she hung back in the waiting room. Sticking his head out the door, he said “I’m going to be a while. If you want to watch television or something, you could go up to my apartment.”  
She figured it would be better than hanging out in the waiting room. She decided to poke around pleased to find food that she gave him in the fridge. Closing the door she noticed a photo on magnets on to the front. She guessed was a younger Harvey but he had a hand covering his face trying to hide from the photographer next to a pretty girl. She looked to the door and carefully took the photo off and looked at the back XoXo B+G. Suddenly she felt funny again. Putting the stuff she brought into the fridge, she ran down the steps and out the door having to get out of there feeling anxiety take over.  
Outside she placed a hand on her chest and leaning against the clinic for support. Like a picture developing it was becoming clearer. She realized she was falling in love with him. She sank to the ground with a strangled yelp. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She's not supposed to stay. She was only here so Michael will make up his mind. Her brain flooded with thoughts of model planes, the smell of cologne and stars. She was about ready to cry. She never counted on this, never counted for the switch to be turned off from annoying doctor with no concept of boundaries into somebody that lovingly cared for her. It was all getting way too personal and she needed to find a reason to stop this.  
She avoided him, really the only way she knew how to deal with a problem ignore or run. No more coffee, no more visits, just planning her day around the outskirts of town just to avoid him. She ended up sitting in front of JoJa mart on Shane's lunch break sharing a pie between them.  
“Ok what gives? You’re too quiet. I’m used to either you telling me to fuck off or trying to be my best friend. Something is wrong.”  
She looked at her hands. Looking down at her, he gave a wave of his cigarette.  
“You just should fuck Doc and get it over with.” She jolted up.  
“I don't have feelings for him nor do I want to sleep with him and also I'm engaged to somebody else.”  
He huffed shoving some pie into his mouth and did air quotes “We never see this so called fiance, he didn’t even visit you when you twisted your foot, you practically made out with the Doc at the bar and not to mention you're still wearing his hat.” She reached up and felt the bill of the hat and sighed.  
“Ok you're right. Maybe I like the Doc, maybe after all the crap in the beginning I realized he actually cares about me, maybe I just want to make him smile at me stupidly like I am the most fascinating person in the world.” Shane stared at her a smug satisfaction on his face.  
“I keep telling you but you refuse to listen”. Giving a sigh she slid into the pavement “I’m in trouble aren't I.” He offered her the last piece of pie before shoving the rest in his mouth  
“Trouble is what you make it.”  
\---  
At home she lay in bed thinking about everything Shane had said.  
Harvey was tender with her like a old blanket familiar and comfortable. With Michael she felt she was always on her toes trying to keep the balance. Sure Harvey wasn’t her type but she wondered what exactly was her type. All she had was Michael for comparison. She wondered what would it be like to come home to Harvey on the farm instead of Michael in the apartment. She wondered if when they sleep at night if he would cuddle with with her if they shared a bed. She wondered if he would call her little girl in his deep voice as he made love to her.  
Fuck she was letting her imagination overtake her brain. She was never the lovelorn romantic writing down boys she likes names in her notebook. To her romance was about practicality, find somebody you tolerate.  
Did Fern like Harvey more than just tolerating, most of all did he like her back or did he just put up with her. Even if he liked her back would a relationship be realistic.  
Her biggest fear was she was just falling for him because he was nice to her, even if something happened between them and he did like her would she be able to maintain a relationship.  
The biggest question nagging her was why she never felt like that with Michael.  
\---  
With all the avoiding she managed to see him at the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies. He was standing off to himself and Fern somehow found herself gravitated to him. Noticing her he smiled “What brings your presence to the festivities, not used to seeing you here?”  
“Well I didn’t come last year. I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”  
He gave her a concerned look “You look cold.”  
She waved her hand “I’m fine, didn’t expect it to be this chilly.”  
He took off his coat and handed it to her.  
Looking up at the sky, she said, “I hope it rains. My crops need it.”  
_“A good day ain't got no rain, a bad day's when I lie in bed and think of things that might have been.”_  
“Huh?”  
“I must be old if you don’t know who Paul Simon is.”  
“I know who Paul Simon is. It just doesn't seem like somebody you would listen to considering whenever you have the radio on it's Jazz or something.”  
“Then you don’t know me that well.”  
Not thinking she blurted out “I would like to.”  
Lewis announced the start and set off the boats. It was nice just standing next to him and she wondered how would it feel if she leaned on him. So much for her plan of ignoring him. He yawned.  
“Guess I better get back home.” Nodding she began to take the coat off.  
“Just give it to me tomorrow gives you an excuse to stop by,”  
She turned away from him feeling a blush crawl up her cheeks. In the dim light she could see his smile.  
“Sleep well Fern.”

Harvey  
“Do I have to get this shot”  
Harvey stared her down “Yes you stepped on a nail, Tetanus is not fun to experience not to mention there is a ten percent chance you can die”.  
“There is a ten percent chance A coconut can drop from a tree killing me to but doesn't mean I don’t go to the Oasis.  
“Actually 150 people are killed by coconuts a year that's 30 percent higher than getting attacked by a shark and that's one in five millionth of a chance”.  
Soddenly rain started pouring down and the sound of thunder echoed the clinic.  
“It wasn’t even cloudy” Fern looked out the window “well shit i can't go anywhere unless I want to get soaked and may or may not be struck by lightning”.  
“There is a one in a million chance”  
“Did you memorize a book or something Harvey”  
“I just read”.  
"I read too but i’m not a walking encyclopedia on statistics of death by tetanus and coconuts”  
“If you want you can hang out in the recovery room and see if the rain stops”.  
“Can I hang out in your apartment it gets lonely in there plus it's always freezing in there. Just go about what your normally do and pretend i’m not here it's not like I need to be entertained.”  
Harvey considered it for a moment. It's not like they haven't been alone together in the apartment before. Yet that was before she got drunk and kissed him.  
“Alright as long as you let me give you your shot”  
“Hold on I have something for you” She dug in her bag and handed him a package. “Happy late birthday”. He carefully took the paper off to find a knit hat.  
“I figured to replace the hat you gave me, I had Evelyn make it for me since all I can do is knit a straight line” She motioned for him to put it on.  
Leaning in grinning she adjusted the earflaps the back of her hand brushing on his face “you look adorable”.  
He laughed “Thank you Fern now stop distracting me and stay still so I can give you your shot. I don’t want you to get an infection”.  
She made a face and turned away as Harvey stuck the needle in “I hate doctors”.  
\---  
Pulling a book out they both sat on the couch. Fern had her legs tucked up pressing on the side of his legs.  
“I like your apartment it's cozy”  
He chuckled “It's small.”  
“Still it just seems very you”  
“One day i’ll see your farm hopefully.”  
“I would like that i'll give you the grand tour, introduce you to my dog”  
“I didn’t know you had a dog, I like dogs”  
She made a uhhuh noise “I like dogs too even if this one is insane. How come you never got married Harvey?”  
“Never found anyone I liked that liked me back.”  
She yawned and mumbled “I like you”.  
Harvey didn’t take his eyes off from his book.  
She shifted curling into herself and he wondered of she was cold.  
Harvey pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and put it over her legs.  
Giving a small sigh she moved and he realized she was leaning on him, the warmth of her shoulder pressing up against his shirt. He thought she fell asleep before she murmured something.  
He turned his head slightly to look at her “Come again?”  
She wrapped her arms around his stomach and he had to grip his book to keep from dropping it. Her arms felt nice around him and if he were a braver man he would of held her back. Instead he reached down and took her hand holding her fingers. Her ring digging into his hand reminding him he didn’t have a chance. He realized with clarity that friends didn’t do this and felt like he was crossing a line. At that point he didn’t care, he craved human interaction, just the simple touch of her hand filled him with hope. He wondered what she would do if he kissed her.  
He was pretty sure she was asleep and gently slid her straight on the couch before picking her up carefully and putting her in his bed.  
He put the blanket over her and took her glasses off noticing how peaceful she looked. Shifting herself cuddling into his pillow he heard her mumble something he swore sounded like “I love you”.  
His heart pounded wondering if he heard right, if he didn’t imagine it. He was sure this was going to be the bane of his existence.  
\---  
Stepping in to escape the winter chill, He found Fern at the bar already drunk. “Wanna talk about anything”  
“No” she sniffled. He waited knowing if he was quiet long enough eventually she would tell him.  
“This is going to be the first year I’ll be alone on my birthday.”  
“Can’t your boyfriend come down?” She twisted her ring around “Probably not I think we're over with.” She gave a small sigh and leaned back. Harvey didn’t know if he should press on the conversation or not.  
“What did you do last year?”  
She looked at the table “I spent it taking care of you.”  
His mouth dropped slightly “You spent your birthday taking care of me?” She nodded “Why didn’t you tell me?” She waved a hand her engagement ring glittering in the light.  
“I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it and I figured you had bigger problems to worry about.”  
“Wow Fern I feel touched.”  
“Come on Doc I told you I don’t want a big deal made out of it, things happen.”  
He scratched his chin and began to think. Are you going to be all right? I have some stuff I forgot to do.”  
She nodded “I’m always alright.”  
He made it back to the clinic in record time shuffling through old newspapers he hadn’t got the chance to recycle. Finding what he wanted he made a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harveys quoting Paul Simon - Slip Slidin' Away.  
> https://play.spotify.com/track/0zb2kpEQMnqJPiLACKMiFM


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know this chapter might be a redundant. I wanted to keep the fine line between canon and story. No matter how I rewrote this I'm still not satisfied but in order to move the story along here it is, I apologize. Slightly NSFW, things are going to pick up I swear.

Fern  
She managed to drunkenly stumble home only to find Michael waiting for her. He held out a cupcake. “Happy birthday.”  
“What do you want?”  
“Wow, is that how you wanna greet your fiancé who not only remembered your birthday but came and waited for you for two hours?”  
She attempted to unlock the door fumbling drunkenly with her keys with only the light of the torches.  
“My birthdays tomorrow and anyways I pretty much figured we were over, with you never calling and when I call you even just to ask how you're doing you write off as clinginess.”  
“Look I’ve been thinking I wanna get back together. I’m sorry I rode you all the time about your job, I’m sorry I didn’t call. I just want you back home.”  
Her brain said no but when she opened her mouth she said “I don’t know I’ll think about it. Stepping a bit closer to her, he reached over and moved a lock of hair from her face. “Anything I can do to change your mind?” Suddenly the loneliness hit her and combined with the alcohol it was dangerous.  
“I’m sure you could think of something.”  
Closing her eyes as he began to take off her clothing she thought of Harvey his hands holding her fingers gently. The way the side of his face felt under her hand. She pushed the thought out of her mind and kissed Michael trying to ignore the guilty feeling somewhere low in her chest.  
Groaning she awoke hungover to an empty bed. Typical Michael. She walked outside to get water hoping she would feel better.  
Goldie ran in circles yapping happy to see her awake and moving. She strode across to feed her chickens. Swinging by her mailbox, she was surprised to see a letter. Opening it up, she saw Harvey’s neat handwriting asking to meet her by the train tracks. She looked at her watch it was just after nine.  
She found him standing awkwardly by the train station.  
“Ah! There you are.” he waved. She watched as a raggedy hot hair balloon touched down. The operator hopped out.  
“It’s all yours for two hours.” She turned to Harvey her head tilted in question.  
He nervously ran a hand through his hair. “I saw an ad in the paper for balloon rides and I knew I had to surprise you with one.”  
“What about your fear of heights?”  
“I am yeah but I’m determined to not let this stop me from doing what I want and experiencing this with you.”  
She couldn’t help but smile at him.  
“I'll try not to get scared ok?”  
He let her get in first before climbing in and pulling the handle. The balloon slowly rose up. She could tell Harvey was nervous and covered his eyes with his hands. She gently touched his shoulder. He griped on to her.  
“We’re up so high…” He stuck his face in her neck “I wanted to impress you with this but look at me I’m a trembling coward” She lightly touched his back reassuring him.  
He gave a small sigh. “You have more than enough courage to make up for me that's why I like you Fern” He lifted his head and looked at her. “All right I’m going to look down can you hold my hand”. Grabbing it she clasped it as he took a deep breath.  
He looked down. Suddenly a flock of seagulls flew by close enough they could touch them and they couldn’t help but stare. His mouth was open in awe. “This is incredible”.  
An Alarm beeped “Our time is almost up”.  
He turned to Fern and let out a small sigh. “Fern we know each other for awhile,” he stammered. “I... “ Suddenly he pulled her close to him and kissed her. It felt like time stopped and was disappointed when he pulled away.  
“I like you too Harvey” she murmured dazed still in disbelief this had happened, that it wasn't some elaborate fantasy in her brain. They looked at each other for what seemed forever.  
“We better touch down our time was up a half an hour ago.”  
She nodded and looked at the sky as they slowly made their way down.  
  


Harvey  
He paced along the train tracks. Thinking to himself what if she doesn't come? It was short notice maybe she couldn’t leave her farm, maybe she had last minute plans, maybe he read her signals wrong. When she had said it was over between her and her boyfriend he decided this was his chance. At least let her know what his intentions were. He was never good with romantic gestures but he would be a fool not to try.  
Fiddling with his hands he saw her pass the bathhouse and he breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing her eyes glance around looking for him he lifted his hand trying to get her attention.  
“Ah! There you are.”  
She smiled at him moving towards him looking at him with curiosity. He tried not to waste words explaining his plan and he felt his chest cinch up when she asked “What about your fear of heights?”.  
He hadn’t expected that and in all of his practicing running over in his mind he had no idea what to say.  
Looking at her small simile reassured him. “I am, but I’m determined to not let this stop me from doing what I want and experiencing this with you”  
She looked worried, concerned. He tried to lighten the mood a bit. “I'll try not to get scared, ok?”  
He pulled the handle exactly how the rental guy told them as they ascended suddenly. So far it was ok as long as he looked at Fern he would be alright.  
A gust of wind hit them and the balloon rose up faster. He panicked and covered his eyes. He could feel her hand on his shoulder her arms at her side inviting him. He took a deep breath and took her in his arms holding her, hoping it would calm his nerves somewhat.  
He felt embarrassed at himself shaking like a child.  
“I wanted to impress you with this but look at me I’m a trembling coward”.  
She gently petted his back and it somewhat calmed him.  
“All right I’m going to look down can you hold my hand”. He practically shoved it at her.  
In a quiet soothing voice “It’s alright Harvey i’m not going to let go".  
He looked out seeing vast sky and mountains, anywhere but down.  
“This is incredible” he sighed.  
As she held his hand he felt wonderful, he didn’t care that the town was just small miniatures now he just focused on how warm her hand felt. Her fingers intertwined with his.  
Here he was old enough to be her father and somehow enamored by holding hands. At that point this was good enough. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to take her in his arms, hell he wanted to feel her body pressed up against his, soon, but for right now he was content holding her hand.  
Her hand dropped as she moved to watch something. He gave a sigh watching her trying to figure out what to say. The light was hitting just right it made her hair shine like precious metal. In that moment she was beautiful. He knew if he didn't do something, say something the opportunity would be gone and he would hate himself.  
“Fern we known each other for awhile…” She was turned away looking at something and he moved in closer his hands hovering for a bit before he pulled her into him and kissed her. She let out a small barely audible noise that sounded a mix between a sigh and a moan and that undid him. Like a switch his fear was turned off and His brain shifted to things he felt he had no business thinking of right now. Imagining those hands on other parts of his body, those hands tangled in his hair those lovely hands undoing the buttons of his shirt. He had to pull himself away knowing if he didn’t she would know his arousal and hopefully to get his brain back on track.  
She looked at him doe eyed her shoulders sagging a bit relaxed “I like you too Harvey” All the signs of attraction were there, eye contact, relaxed body posture but still he was unable to believe this was happening.  
He let out a breath of air trying to keep his emotions under control “We better touch down our time was up a half an hour ago.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW

Fern  
She noticed he was smiling as he got out the hot air balloon.  
“You know, with you with me heights don’t seem so bad. “  
They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds.  
She grabbed his hand “Would you like to see my farm? You never have the day free and I figured now would be a good time. “  
Nodding he squeezed her hand and they started off down the hill.  
“It’s improved a lot since I first moved in.” She was proud at what it became since she first stepped foot on the rundown property. As she pointed to the additions, she said “I got a silo for feed, a chicken coop, the standard farm stuff. Usually I have a crop but since it's winter not much will grow. These are my girls” she gestured to the chickens “Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia”. Harvey laughed.  
“You named your chickens after the Golden Girls”.  
She grinned back at him. “Hopefully I will have cows and pigs someday but I really want is sheep.”  
He raised his eyebrows. “Why sheep?”  
She shrugged her shoulders “I don’t know I always liked them ever since I was a little girl, my mom had to pull me away from them at the petting zoo. I guess they seem more obsolete than chickens or pigs, I see them as misunderstood.”  
His smile got larger.  
She motioned for him to follow her “Come on after a day like today let me make dinner.”  
“Oh you don’t have to just for me and it's your birthday I should cook you something.” “I seen your fridge” she playfully nudged him, feeling like they already passes the point where they could be casually physical. "I’m not letting you go home to that.” He hesitated at the door frame looking at her. “come on old man I don't have a scary dungeon” She lightly pushed him into the house and she could see him looking around taking everything in. “I like your taste in decorating” as he looked around the one room taking everything in. Turning to grin at her he raised his eyebrows “it’s very you.”  
“I hoped it wasn’t too masculine. I always tend to like the rustic look of things. I mean most of the furniture was already here when I moved in, a few pieces are from robin though but i picked the wallpaper”.  
He sat on her couch picking up a stack of cd's she had on the side table while fern busied herself trying to get water boiling on the hot plate. “I hate cooking on this it takes forever”. “You have a lot of Don Henley cd's, why don't you have robin build you a kitchen?” “I like Don Henley, and well I figured whoever buys this place can do that”. Fern swore she could hear him sigh. “Is it on the market yet?” “no I actually want it pulling a income before I sell it.” “why all this work though.” “I don't know I just feel it I owe it to my grandfather even if I'm not going to keep it at least make it the best for somebody who appreciates it. I was never one on being a farmer.” “well what do you want to be?” “I'm a little too old for that question. I guess not homeless” “what did you want to be when you were younger?” “i don't know my life was constantly changing I never really planned for my future. Why bother somehow something's going to screw up and i'll be back where I started from” “ever think about collage?” “no as soon as I got out of school I never wanted to go back” “I understand college isn't for everybody, sometimes I wondered how I made it and managed to go through medical school”. Harvey gave her a sad look like he wanted to say more. Fern broke the awkward silence “Animals.” “excuse me?” I wanted to work with animals when I lived with my mom. I wanted a pet for the longest time but we couldn't have one where we lived. Michael's father was allergic to fur dandruff so I couldn't get one when I was older”.

“are you happy to have a dog now” “yeah I am she was a bit of an adjustment getting used to. I'm not good at taking care of things. “I don't know you seem to do a fine job with me”.

“you different”

“how so”

“i don't know you just are” She paused taking a colander out from under the sink. Her voice muffled “I'm going to miss her when I move though she grew on me but a apartments no place for a dog her size.

“do you have a projected time you expect to sell?”

“a year ago I never expected to be here this long.”

There was a long pause of silence. “Ok Harvey's foods done.”

They sat on plastic boxes full of her belongings with two boxes stacked on top of eachother for a table. It was crude but it worked. They ate their food, not knowing quite what to say to each other. It was a long time since Fern had company over and her conversation skills were a bit rusty. She knew Harvey on the other hand was used to eating something that came out of the microwave as he watched the news.  
“You’re an amazing cook. I might have to come to dinner more often.”  
“I think you're over exaggerating my ability but thanks. You should join me more. It gets lonely cooking for just me”. She slightly blushed and wondered if she was laying it on too thick. She tried to give him her best smile “It's also always nice when somebody who appreciates a cooked dinner.” She couldn’t believe they were flirting or what she thought sounded like flirting after all he kissed her. She was suddenly nervous like she was in middle school again her hands shaking. Needing to keep herself busy after they were done she took their plates. He had found her bookcase examining it with curiosity. His fingers ran over the paperback spines “the complete beginners guide to chickens, Dog training for the dog-less, Basic gardening”. Leaning forward so her shoulders touched him “I know as much about farming as I know about cooking”. Turning and grinning to her “That’s ok, I think farmer suits you just fine you adapted quiet well given the circumstances. I'm sure your grandpa would be happy with what you accomplished so far” His eyes looked at her softly a small relaxed grin on his face. She was definitely sure he was flirting with her now and she liked it. “You know I’m glad that dreams change.” Shifting her weight she looked into his eyes she couldn’t help but notice how green they were. Her lips still felt the linger of his kiss and wondered if he would do it again. She slowly took a step closer to him. She could feel the heat radiating off his body. She knew if she was going to make a move it was now or never and stood on her toes to kiss him. She could feel his body tense up for a second before relaxing. His arms wrapped loosely around her grounding her.  
They finally broke apart breathing heavily and unable to look away. Not knowing where to put her hands she played with the end of his red tie. She couldn’t believe how confident without the aid of alcohol she was around him. Somehow he brought a completely new side to her. Giving his tie a gentle tug she pulled him closer so their bodies were pressed together.  
“So Doctor Harvey how my pulse rate now?” He opened his mouth looking flustered before he grabbed both of her hands.  
“Listen Fern, I just want you to know I never felt like this with anyone before. I mean I know I’m not a young man. When I was going to school I thought I would have the rest of my life to fall in love but it just seemed like I wasn’t as handsome or have as much money as the rest of my classmates.” he let out a big sigh “Well what I’m getting at is I don’t have a lot of experience with women, with relationships. I mean I know all the technical textbook stuff but honestly you're the first person I kissed since High School.”  
It clicked in her brain what he was telling her. She backed up giving him space.  
“Look I understand. I’m not that experienced myself sure I had Michael but…” She waved a hand not knowing how to explain it. “What I’m saying is we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”  
He nodded slowly and she could see a thoughtful look on his face.  
“Does it bother you that I was in love with somebody else?”  
He shook his head “In the real world we don’t get the perfect love story we want. I understand and I don’t have a problem with it. Love isn’t exactly by the book.”  
She dug her nails into her hand taking deep breaths “Do you really like me?”  
He reached out for her and cupped her face in his hands. “You are an amazing person and my best friend and I think back to the time I first saw you. I had no idea how much joy you would bring into my life.”  
She looked down at her feet suddenly shy.  
“Come here.” he pulled her closer to him and kissed her up against the bookcase. Wrapping her arms around him she just had to feel his skin. Reaching under his jacket she found the edge of his tucked in shirt gave it a pull and slid her hands up his back. He shoved her a bit more forcefully and gave out a throaty groan. Pressing her body up against him she was pleased to find out that he was enjoying this as much as her. Her fingers slipped in his belt loops and pulled him closer to her. She shifted her hand slightly feeling his erection through his pants. He gave a grunt as her fingertips carefully explored the front of him. She knew she was moving too fast and she should slow down but his kisses made her knees shaky and left her wanting more. She didn’t even know how much she wanted this but now that she had she wished it would go on forever.  
Harvey’s hand slid over so slowly down her back to her butt then down her legs for a moment she got distracted. She let out a sharp intake of air feeling his fingertips on her thighs. Closing her eyes she focused on his hand slowly sliding up her pant leg. He made a soft noise when she had stopped rubbing him. She redirected her focus reaching for his belt buckle.  
Suddenly Goldie started barking at something outside. They both snapped to attention both drunk on pheromones and serotonin and realized what they were doing.  
“It's probably a squirrel or something they love the trees.” She looked at him; his face red “Are you ok with this? Am I moving too fast?”  
His voice was strange almost stammering. “No you're fine. I still can't believe this is happening.” For a second Fern was sure her legs were going to give out.  
“If it gets too much, just tell me and we can stop.”  
Tracing the curve of her chin he whispered, “How about we move to somewhere less distracting?” Nodding she grabbed his sleeve and led him to the bed  
“You sit. Let me just put her in her pen.”

Harvey  
He had no idea what came over him. One second they were having dinner and the next second he had her pressed against the bookcase. She looked so amazing her hair falling around her face looking up at him with lust in her eyes. The fact that he had the power of making somebody feel this way about him was mind numbingly satisfying.. He felt her pulling on his shirt and sliding her warm hands up his back. He couldn’t help but groan and press his hips to her. She gave a lovely little smirk on the discovery of his arousal. Moving her hands from his back they settled at his hips moving slowly fingers in his belt loops. He stared at her wishing she could read his thoughts. _Please touch me fern please, I don’t think i can take it anymore._ As if she could read his mind her thumbs lightly brushed over his erection and Harvey thought his knees were going to buckle. She moved her hand fingertips feeling him, rubbing him. He couldn’t help but groan in pleasure. Even through layers of clothing it felt amazing. He had no idea what was going to happen if she unzipped his pants.  
He let his hands explore her body. Starting at her back his hands worked their way down. She closed her eyes leaning her head back letting out a small moan. He slid his hand up her thigh and she froze. Splaying his fingertips slightly just stopping at the junction of her legs and hip. His body wanted more of her contact and he couldn’t help but expressing it by making a noise. Her fingers hovered at his belt buckle.  
Her dog barked and they both stopped and caught their breaths for a moment, had their minds catch up.  
He was going to take the chance and take whatever she planned to give him. He already sat off to the sides all of his life it's about time he did something he wanted.  
She suddenly looked concerned “Are you ok with this? Am I moving too fast?”  
If she had done this months ago she still wouldn’t be moving too fast. He had wanted this for weeks, months, years. Every awkward goodbye everytime he saw her walking around town boots and backpack he wondered what would happen if he undid the straps of her overalls. Laying in his bed at night not being able to sleep ashamed as he thought of her his hand gripping himself feverishly as he sighed her name as he orgasimed.  
He managed to make out some words “No you're fine. I still can't believe this is happening.”  
“If it gets too much, just tell me and we can stop.”  
The house could be on fire and he wouldn’t stop.  
He couldn’t help but touch her face, “How about we move to somewhere less distracting?”  
She led him to her small unmade bed.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW

Fern  
Back in the room she studied Harvey as he took his jacket and tie and hung it up on the chair taking his shoes off placing them neatly. She noticed his socks were a colorful pattern of stripes and smiled. He rocked back and forth on his feet not quite knowing what to do with himself and Fern thought he was adorable. The confident doctor that she witnessed just a few moments ago was back to being nervous. Getting into bed she slid over for him and patted the empty side. He climbed in awkwardly next to her squeezing to fit on the single bed. He wrapped his arms around her and she could feel him slowly breathing. She gave a happy sigh as she nuzzled Harvey’s neck.  
“I don’t know why but you have the nicest neck.”  
He laughed “Well I like your nose, it's adorable.” He kissed her nose and whispered “I like the way you look at me.”  
Fern hummed in content.“I like the way you touch me.”  
In response his warm fingers found the edge of her shirt and he placed his palm on her abdomen slowly rubbing in circles. It was amazing how a simple touch could be relaxing. His fingers felt like they were memorizing every curve of her and she wanted more. Reaching behind under her shirt, she unhooked her bra, making it easy for him and slid it out of her shirt sleeve before tossing it on the floor. His eyes closed as if he was trying to get his thoughts together. She bit her lip and leaned her body harder into his when his fingers brushed under her breasts before sliding his hand cupping one cradling it gently. She could hear his heavy breathing in her ear and that was more than enough to turn her on. Holding her up against him he brushed his fingers with the lightest of touches to her nipples. Fern’s heart was pounding. Turning her attention to him her fingers grazed his chest before she slowly started undoing his buttons. Waiting a few seconds to see if he would say no she slid the shirt off his shoulders and tugged at his undershirt. He wiggled to help her take if off and she rested a hand on his chest feeling his breathing. His eyes were half closed and he had a big smile on his face. He took that moment to kiss her again shifting her so she was on top of him. When he pulled away from the kiss, she missed the warmth of his breath and found herself rubbing her face against his. She could feel him sliding a hand back up her leg and she twitched.  
Giving a small chuckle and whispered “You like that?” She could only bite her lip and nod and she realized she was slowly rocking her hips against him.  
He started to stammer again “Did you know during sexual arousal womens pupils dilate”.  
She gave a shake of her head as she pulled him in for another kiss. As he played with the waist of her pants it didn’t even register in her brain that he unbuttoned them and slid them down until he felt his warm fingers on her clit. Gripping the blankets in her hands she gasped as he slowly slid a finger into her. She wasn’t sure she was more surprised with how wet she gotten or how good he made her feel. Sure she had been aroused before but not in this way. Ignoring the fumbling with his hands he knew exactly how to touch her. In no time her senses were overloaded rocking her hips as he fingered her.  
She let out an undignified groan. “Fuck Harvey, please don’t stop.” Slipping another finger inside of her she grounded against his pelvis.  
“I’m not going to last very long like this.” he moaned as he shifted himself away from her.  
“Do you want to?” she motioned vaguely not knowing quite how to ask. He managed to make out a yes before he took the rest of his clothing off tossing them on the floor. Having taken the rest of hers, Harvey gawked at her in the moonlight looking at her as if she was amazing.  
“Are you sure” she stammered afraid of pushing him to far of making a mistake she couldn’t undo. Maybe if the fact she didn’t know this was his first time she wouldn’t feel so self conscious.  
He placed a hand on her back and moved her forward “Now…”.  
Taking her hips gently he shifted her so he was on top. After a few thrusts he came his eyes wide. “Oh wow that was… wow.”  
She smiled at him.“Glad you liked it.”  
They laid there awkwardly for a moment. Neither of them knowing what to say.  
“Can I stay?” he whispered. Nodding she took her glasses off. He kissed her on the forehead “Happy birthday Fern.” Taking off his glasses he set them next to hers on the bedside table.  
She let out a contented sigh “Best birthday ever”  
Wrapping her in his arms they both went fast to sleep.

Harvey  
Sometimes late at night Harvey masturbated, mostly for practical purpose more than a few times just for pleasure and he thought he got the job done. He was wrong. Words couldn’t describe how good it felt. He was slightly disappointed it didn’t last longer. Worried that he didn’t do a good job. He was concerned that maybe Fern would complain but she pulled him close to her and gave a sigh of content. It had seemed like he hadn't screwed it up too bad. She quickly managed to fall asleep in his arms and Harvey was left alone replaying the day's events in his mind. Never in his wildest dreams he thought he would be laying naked on her bed like this. Eventually his brain wound down falling in a dreamless sleep.  
He woke up to an empty bed and quickly picked up his clothes from various parts of the floor putting them on. He glanced at his reflection in the window. His hair was rumpled and he couldn’t help but examine himself closely trying to find out what Fern saw in him. His eyes tired from late nights, his hair unkempt a growth of stubble he hadn’t shaved. He shoved his glasses on and blinked, he had better get going if he wanted to get back to the clinic. He heard Fern by the chicken coop and decided to meet her there.  
Holding up the basket, she said, “If you liked my dinner you're going to love my breakfast I hope you like eggs because it's the only thing I know how to make for breakfast on the hotplate.”  
Shaking his head “I have to go back to the clinic and manage to sneak in without nobody knowing I didn’t come home last night.” He gave her a smirk then kissed her on the top of her head “However if you want to bring over something, I think I’ll be free after five.”  
She played with the collar of his jacket not wanting him to go just yet. “Won’t people talk if I sneak to your clinic after hours?”  
He gave her a playful nudge on the shoulders “Let them talk. I’m sure worse things in this town have fuelled the rumor mill.”  
Smiling she poked him in the chest lightly, “Alright then, you me and leftovers at five.”  
He turned back and grinned “Looking forward to it little girl”  
\---  
He regretted taking a shower wiping the smell of her off of him. Trying to put his head together he went down to the clinic and unlocked the door.  
“Bout time Doc looks like you had a nice day off what did you do?” He changed the subject.  
“We have a backlog of files and inventory to input. Do you want to work on one and then switch off later in the day?” She spun in the chair  
“I guess. Can I use the radio?”  
“Sure”.  
She gleefully hopped off the chair and ran into the exam room.  
Despite trying to focus on his work he didn’t get much done his mind drifting off to Fern.  
At lunchtime he couldn't help but lock himself in his bathroom stroking himself one hand on the wall thinking about the noises she made. Her whimpers and moans. Cleaning himself off he straightened out his clothes and went back to work.  
Maru had switched off and disappeared in the exam room and he idly sat at the computer henpecking records.  
She knocked on the door three minutes to five.  
“Come in. Just inputting some vaccination records that I never got around to.” She put the food on the desk and peered at the computer full of numbers. Pushing up his glasses he looked at her and his stomach jolted.  
“My aren't you pretty today?”  
She gave a twirl of her dress.  
Harvey was suddenly speechless. In the years she had lived here he had never seen her in a dress or even shorts preferring to wear denim to protect from the weeds.  
“Well I figured since it was a date I should dress up.” She leaned over to kiss him.  
Not being able to control himself, he shifted her on his lap as she tried her best not to fall into the computer table. "You look lovely"  
"You already said that Harvey"  
"No first I said you were pretty then I said you looked lovely there's a difference"  
She rolled her eyes in a way that afflicted Harvey's heart.  
He couldn't help but lean down to kiss her.  
Suddenly there was a cough. Maru looked sheepish behind the door  
“I think I’m all done for today.”  
With the most dignified straightest of faces he could of managed he shoved his glasses up again.“Ok Maru. See you tomorrow.”  
She turned back and gave a thumbs up “Way to go Doc. I knew you had it in you.”  
Laughing he let Fern back on the floor, walked to the door and locked it before turning to her  
“Now where were we?”  
If the night before was all about exploring each other, this time it was pure passion. Both knowing what they wanted they made their way up to his apartment not taking their hands off each other. He couldn’t help but throw her on the bed as he bunched up her dress in his hands.  
“Wait, are you not wearing underwear?” he asked tilting his head.  
She nodded “figured is one less thing for you to take off” as she moved his hand up so he could feel her juices coating the insides of her thigh. This gesture alone was enough to make him want to come right then and there. He stood up to take off his pants when Fern grabbed his hand stopping him. Sliding the pants down herself she gently probed her tongue through his underwear at his erection. He had to sit down and absentmindedly found the edge of the bed. Gritting his teeth he moaned and now it was his time to grip the sheets. She had worked his erection out of his underwear exposing himself to the cold of the room. She gave a few experimental licks before taking him in her warm mouth. Harvey couldn’t sit still processing the new sensations, her tongue flicking over the head of his penis, the way her tongue caressed it. He couldn’t help but be vocal and that seemed to spur her on more. With every moan from him came a burst of enthusiasm from her. It felt like a battle and Harvey knew he was going to lose.  
Leaning in and whispering in his ear “Please Harvey I been thinking all day about this, about you” She took off his glasses putting them on the bedside table “Please”.  
That moment Harvey lost all functionality of his brain. If it wasn’t for Fern whispering it he probably would of forgot his name. His mouth opened and he managed to make a noise.  
Feeling like she already pushed him close to the edge she straddled him.  
He like to think he had better control of himself the second time around. Despite him trying to focus on anything but her, dispite the fact he masterbated at lunch, he came so hard he felt like he was going to pass out. Pushing his hair out of his face he managed to utter the words  
“You're going to kill me little girl.” Before sinking his head in the pillow panting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I shouldn't be allowed to write smut I'm horrible at it.


	16. Chapter 16

Fern  
Fern hummed a song whose melody she could remember but the song she couldn’t place. Sitting at his table Harvey chatted about work and it just felt so routine and domestic like they had been doing it for years. As if they were already married. Fern felt a pang in her chest. Her and him married, she couldn’t believe she was thinking about it. It took five years of living with Michael to even start to think of anything permanent. Around Harvey they fell so easily in conversation and once he started relaxing and making jokes he was the first one she sought when she wanted company. Could that even be a possibility. It just seemed like the next step, they liked each other, they got along together. Next to Shane he was her best friend. Isn't the entire goal of courtship is trying to find the one person that makes you smile, humm songs and think of a future together. Everything went back to the question of did fern just tolerate him, did the rush of the early stages of the relationship mask her feelings him. She had no idea if anything in her life was genuine or not. She was convinced she loved Michael. Did stupid pop songs and what she thought was love trick her.  
Suddenly Fern panicked. She tried her best to calm down so he wouldn’t notice but he did touching her hand asking what was wrong.  
“Look, can we not tell anybody about this?” she blurted.   
For a second he looked hurt. “All right if that's what you want.”   
She couldn’t point her finger on it but suddenly the reality of the last two days came rushing at her and she didn't know how to handle everything. She did her best to smile and make the rest of the evening pleasant meanwhile her brain and emotions felt like a car crash.  
She ended up staying the night smooshed together in his single bed. One thing led to another and they ended up having sex when she couldn’t go to sleep. Snuggled in his arms feeling his whiskers on the side of her face she heard him whisper, “I love you.” By the time it registered in her brain and she opened her mouth he was snoring. She awoke before the sun rose tip toeing around not to wake him. Scribbling a note she put it under his glasses and snuck out.  
Walking home her head looking at the ground she felt embarrassed with herself she had no idea why. She saw Shane walking to work raising an eyebrow at her.  
“Walk of shame?”   
She did her best not to make eye contact .  
“You dog. Wait did you and doc?” he made an in and out motion with his hand.  
“Yes and try to keep it down.” looking at Leah's house.  
“Wow”he drawled out “you actually made a move”  
“Well we both did, it was mutual”  
“You look glum was he that bad”  
“No, it's just things just happen kinda fast”  
“so you and deadbeat boyfriend are over with?”  
“I don’t know I guess”.   
He placed a hand on her shoulder “You guess? Look you're going to have to make a decision and be upfront with both of them. As much as you might not believe, I think Doc’s a nice person and I don’t want to see his heart broke”. She felt worse than she already did having Shane lecture her on relationships.  
“I know, I just need to think”.   
He shook his head.  
“Please don’t let this get out of control.” She nodded and walked back home.  
Doing her best to keep focused she managed to do her farm chores for the day finally collapsing on the bed around noon. She debated going to bring Harvey his lunchtime coffee. She decided she wasn’t ready to face him just not now.  
Part of her missed him, missed the way his hair flopped down, the tone of voice when he called her little girl, missed the way his hands felt on her. She resisted the urge to walk to the clinic, She knew he expected her to come even though she never stated she was going to and felt like she was betraying him.  
Late at night as she lay in bed she slid her hands down her body thinking about him. Disappointed that her fingers wasn’t his she tried to make do with what she had. Regret seeping through her, ashamed at herself, ashamed at not being able to walk over there and tell him what she wanted and how she felt.  
The next day she wrote a note saying she was buried in fence repairs hoping to buy her some time to think. She knew she was being a coward about the entire situation. She knew her and Michael were over with but as she twisted her engagement ring, she just felt lost like everything was spiraling out of control again.  
\---  
It took two weeks of avoiding him before she saw him walk up the path hands in his pockets. She smiled at him and waved leaning the ax on the stump of the tree. Sure he surprised her but after weeks of making excuses she was surprised it took him this long to show up.   
“Sorry It's spring and I just got overwhelmed”. She had no idea if she was talking about the farm or her life. He took a step closer “I missed you, I was worried you didn’t like me anymore.”  
She smiled and gestured to her row of crops as if to explain. She felt it would be rude to send him away she reached on her side bag and tossed him a apple. “I still have work to do but if you wanna keep me company go ahead”.  
He wandered around the farm some occasionally smacking away flies and mosquitoes before he settled in on the porch. The sun was just starting to lower down casting everything in golden light. Glancing at him she couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was. He may of said he wasn’t the kind of man girls would twice at but Fern couldn't help but stare at him. She shook her head and went back to work and swing the ax into the stump. She had noticed he started playing fetch with Goldie, who somehow found an old sock she used as a toy and kept bring it to him like a prize. Out of the corner of her eye she watched them enamored, she couldn’t help but smile. Chastising herself for being so stupid with her feeling, she had no idea why she was hiding. Making a promise to herself she resolved to tell him how she felt about him tonight.   
Occasionally her and Harvey would make eye contact it seemed like every time he looked at her she felt some her worries go away. She saw him go into the house coming out with a glass of water for her.   
He moved her body to a log and motioned for her to sit. “Drink”.   
Fern rolled her eyes and grinned at him “Yes Doctor Harvey”  
Harvey coughed and dug his toe around in the dirt. “Flower dance is coming up, are you going to go”  
“I don’t know how to dance”  
He smiled a bit of teeth showing from under his mustache “I could teach you if you want that is if you decide to go”.   
He grabbed her hands and pulled her up. “The main part of dancing is trying not to step on you or your partner's feet or tripping. Pulling her into his arms he unexpectedly spun her around.  
As quick as he grabbed her he let go. He looked at the ground drawing something in the dirt with his shoes “would you like to go with me”  
“I don’t know depends on how much work I have I’m not the festival type”.  
“I don’t want to push you into something you're uncomfortable with”  
“It's not that it's just…” She had no idea how to explain it. “Look we can talk about this at dinner” Nodding he went back to the almost dark porch and Fern did her best to ignore the look of disappointment on his face.  
Along with telling him her feelings she felt like she owed him a big apology. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a car coming through the makeshift drive. Her heart started beating fast when she realized it was Michael.  
Slamming the car door he stomped angrily over to her.  
“After nagging me for months about getting back together as soon as I ask you, you ignore me!” Fern glanced in panic at Harvey who was watching the entire scene with confusion. She had no idea what to say to Michael.  
“Hey don’t you just stand there looking at me like an idiot. I go out of my way to spend time with you for your birthday after you make this huge deal about it”  
“Look that was a mistake. I was drunk, anyway you were the one who said sex didn’t mean anything.”  
“It seemed like it meant something to you when you drug me to your bed. You spent the entire year crying in my answering machine about how miserable you were and how much you wanted me back. This is just a power trip, this is just you using emotions to play head games like you always do. Suddenly I decide to give it another try and you saying no. Look at yourself Fern you're still wearing my ring.”  
Locking her eyes In Micheal's “I’m sick of you turning this over and making this my problem. You were the one who wanted out, you’re the one who didn’t want to get married, you're the one who wanted space. I gave you all the space you needed. Don't fucking blame me for you changing your mind all of a sudden. Stop acting like I was never good enough because I was fucking good enough.”   
“Come on Fern we both know you're just playing house, we both know you’ll get bored of this life and want to go back home”.  
“Maybe I did, Maybe for a year It took every ounce of self control not to get on that bus and leave. She motioned to the farm “I like it here, I made friends, and I found somebody special who loves me for who I am”.   
Michael rolled his eyes furiously. “does he know you were still having sex with me, does he know you were begging for it just two weeks ago”.   
Fern took off the engagement ring and threw it at him.“Go fuck yourself and don’t blame me for finding happiness on my own without you.”  
He scoffed “Have fun and when you get tired of playing farmer, call me.”  
“When you become such a fucking asshole Michael, i’m glad it didn’t work out”  
She turned around to the house only to notice Harvey was gone. The only thing she could think was ‘oh shit’ and wondered what parts Harvey heard.  
After looking inside for him she ran into town in the dark only to find the clinic locked. She pounded on the door.  
“Harvey let me talk to you please?” She could feel tears running down her face as she slink to the ground. She could see the light turn off in the clinic. Curling up in a ball she broke down sobbing “Harvey I love you…” she murmured.  
She didn’t remember Mayer Lewis finding her and walking her home, She didn’t remember collapsing in tears in bed, the entire next day was blur of feeling miserable and sleep from anxiety medication. She eventually got up to write Harvey a letter but she just couldn't put her thoughts down on paper. Getting frustrated she threw the pad of paper across the room. She eventually wrote “I’m sorry. Just talk to me and let me explain.” on a scrap piece of paper and slipped it under the clinic door late at night.  
She managed to get up only to feed her chickens. Her heart leapt when she saw mayor Lewis bring her mail. Almost tripping over her feet she ran to the box. Feeling a bit of relief when she had letter from Harvey until she read it.  
‘You apparently weren't clear enough to state your feeling with me or Michael and I personally don’t have time to play head games. Please just leave me alone. –Harvey’  
Her heart sank and she clenched her jaw. How could she have screwed this up in just a few moments? She wished she could form the right combination of words to explain how badly she fucked this up and get him to talk to her again.  
She managed somehow to make it through a week then two occasionally stopping at the clinic. When Harvey wasn’t locked up in his apartment avoiding her leaving her with Maru. When he did talk to her in was in his doctor's voice picking words carefully without emotion. It was killing her when she glanced at his eyes and just saw anger behind them.  
She knew she could mope she wanted to but somehow she got out of bed tended her crops and fed the chickens. Everything felt automatic for her and her days blurred together to the point she had no idea if she ate or not if she she took her medication or not, she even lost track of sleep. Some nights staying up all night other times sleeping for days. She ended up writing in her calendar just to keep track of her crops. While looking at the calendar something felt off but she couldn’t figure it out immediately. Rubbing her forehead and realizing it was awhile since she washed her hair it hit her. Looking at the calendar and counting back she felt a sudden sinking feeling. She should've had her period over a week ago.  
She paced the length of the farmhouse nervously her mind going to absurd scenarios. She could not tell him, she could run, she could try and patch things back with Michael and raise the kid as his. Pressing her palms in her eyes she groaned she ran away from things enough in her life plus she didn’t officially know she was pregnant. She knew without a doubt it was Harvey’s if it did exist. She remembered Michael being extremely careful whenever he came over for late night sex. However with Harvey she got stupid, wrapped up in so much emotion she wasn’t thinking she pretty much threw him into bed and ravished him. Looking at her watch she knew she had enough time to get to the clinic before it closed if she ran. She bit her lip and forced herself out the door. Time for her to be an adult.

 

Harvey  
Harvey was engrossed in some paperwork not even looking up till the door slammed “I’m about ready to close.” He saw Fern holding up a hand.  
“Look this isn’t a social visit.”  
He gave a strained look “Don’t tell me you went into the mines and hurt yourself just so I could look at you.”  
He waited his arms crossed in front of him motioning with his hand to continue. She managed to make the words come out  
“I’m late”  
“Yeah I know that. I’m about to close.”   
She took a deep breath “No Harvey I’m a week and a half late.”   
The words slowly registered in his brain and He had to grab the counter in front of him so he wouldn’t pass out.   
In a strange voice “You sure?” he asked.   
She shrugged “I can pretty much set my watch on my cycle so yeah.” She motioned vaguely in the air. “I’m pretty sure it’s yours. I mean whenever I had sex with Michel we used a condom”.   
Harvey walked to the exam room and dry heaved in the sink. When he walked out to face her, a realization hit him.  
“Wait you're telling me you weren't on birth control?”  
She sighed “You of all people knew what I was taking. You wrote my prescriptions.”   
Gripping the counter his knuckles turning white.  
“So we had unprotected sex and you may or may not be carrying my child.”  
“Look doc do you want me to get a book and some charts, yes that's what I’m telling you.”  
He could hear his ragged breathing before he snapped his head up and looked at her. “Do you have any idea how stupid you were”.   
She looked stunned backing up.  
He slammed his palm on his forehead “I’m such a idiot. I should've known better to get in a relationship with somebody like you.”  
Her eyes widened “Hey what does that mean?”  
He took a step closer to her glaring “Exactly what you think it means. I shouldn’t have gotten so involved with somebody with the emotions of a teenager.”  
“Hey you had a hand in this you know. Don’t try to blame it all on me.”  
“Yes and this is what I get for being over emotional, bringing an unwanted child in this world compliments of two people who don’t know what the hell they're doing.”  
Fern stepped back she never heard Harvey curse before and it was somewhat shocking.  
“This is what I get for letting my feelings take over and not being responsible.” He tugged at his hair turning away.  
“Look don’t yell at me Harvey. God damn it you don’t think I already feel bad about this. I don't even know for sure if I am or not”   
“Look go into the exam room and lets get this over with.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody isn't good with dealing with emotions like the adults they are and Maru and Shane should never make plans together.

Fern  
She didn't remember Harvey prepping her arm or drawing blood. All she remembered was him pointing to the waiting room and telling her to go sit. If she didn’t feel miserable already, she felt more so knowing that he didn’t even want to be in the same room as her. Curling up in a chair she cried and eventually fell asleep. She was awoken by Harvey holding a paper before shoving it at her.  
“You're not pregnant.”  
She breathed a sigh of relief.  
“Well I guess all my stressing out was for nothing.” Trying to smile to break the tension. She hoped maybe Harvey would give her enough time to apologize, to let her explain. He just stood there with his arms crossed glaring at her.  
“We just got lucky” He gave a sigh “I can’t be your doctor.” He motioned to the paper. “There is a list of recommendations. I'm sorry if you're going to have to go out of town but I can’t treat you anymore”.  
He gestured to the door. “You know your way out.”  
He turned and left her alone in the waiting room.  
She stumbled her way home in the dark. She passed by where she fell and sprained her ankle over a year ago and broke down sobbing holding her knees as she rocked. She felt Shane gently nudging her up.  
“I would've walked right by you if you weren't making noise, you're going to freeze out here, are you ok?”  
She shook her head “I fucked up bad.”  
He gave a large sigh shaking his head “Come on let's get you home.”  
He grabbed her anxiety meds scanned the label before getting a glass of water for her. “Do you want me to get Doc?”  
“No!” she screamed loudly. “Please don’t get him.”  
He began to put the pieces together. “Did something happen with you and Doc?”  
Nodding she took the pill Shane handed to her.  
“I have no idea where to begin…” she sighed, pulling the covers over her head.  
“Well, start from the beginning.”  
After telling him everything that happened since her birthday Shane got up and walked around the farmhouse.  
“I had a feeling this would happen, I told you this would happen. You two need to learn how to swallow your pride and talk to each other”.  
She didn’t hear him the medication taking its full effect.

 

Harvey  
Walking into the exam room he could hear the door close with a bang. He focused on cleaning up.  
He didn’t want to think, he didn’t want to feel he just wanted this day over and done with. Walking up the stairs he realized maybe he shouldn’t of yelled at her but still what she did was not to mention immature but irresponsible.  
He hated drinking but he reached in the cupboard under the sink for a bottle of whiskey somebody years ago had given him. He liked wine at dinner if it complimented the food and he never had anything harder than Leigh's blackberry wine she crafted every year for him. Right now he didn’t care. Grabbing his mug he poured some in almost to the brim taking a swallow. He spit most of it out after realizing how strong it was but he took another drink more slowly and carefully. Reaching in the fridge he found a few cans of Joja Cola and mixed it to make the alcohol sting less down his throat. He sat the floor of the kitchen his back on the cupboard laying his head down when the buzz started enjoying the cool tile on his face.  
He was stupid for falling for her. He knew this was going to happen and he did it anyway. He saw the signs and ignored them.  
He actually thought for a moment he might of had a future with her only to find out not only did she lie to him about being with her boyfriend but she was borderline seeing Michael the same time as him. Maybe after time he could of been able to forgive her. But fact that he had unprotected sex with her was just the final thing that fueled his anger. He couldn’t bring a child into this world with him as a father. He thought of his own parents how unhappy they were yelling when they thought he was asleep. He would be bringing a poor child into that. He always thought he wanted children but on different terms once he had his life together. Right now he wasn’t even fit to take care of a plant let alone a child. At this point he was to broken, to old.  
What did he have to show for his life. Sure he was respected in his job but he made enough just to scrape by. Buy a coffee now and then have disposable income for his model planes. On paper his life was going fine but inside he wasn’t happy.  
\---  
For a second he didn’t know where he was slowly realizing he was in his bed. Shaking his head he did his best to stand up, his mouth dry and got some water.  
“Do you mind telling me what's going on”  
He jumped almost knocking himself into the counter to face Maru.  
“What are you doing here?”  
“Well I thought I was coming in for work but I found you passed out on the floor are you ok what happened”  
“I’m fine let's go downstairs”  
“No, there no way I’m going to let you go like this. I’ll take care of things today” Maru handed him a cup of something.  
He ran his hand through his hair his mouth feeling like it was full of cotton drinking it not thinking.  
Maru’s eyes narrowed “Harvey come on tell me something has to be bothering you, something huge. Is it about Fern?”  
His body froze “let's just say I'm a failure just like I always knew I was and I’m not Fern’s doctor anymore and leave it at that”  
“That has to be the most ridiculous thing you ever said”.  
“Well what do you expect I screw things up all the time. Sometimes I wonder why I even have a job, nobody would miss me”  
“Thats not true and you know it Harvey, You're just had a few bad days, I would miss you, I know Fern would miss you the entire town would miss you”. She sniffed him “Have you been drinking”  
“None of your business and I’m pretty sure after a while everybody would forget i was even here”  
She shook her head knowing the answer.  
“Anyways is for the better I'm sure it was going to fail anyway eventually she would of got tired of me everyone does.”  
She looked at him concerned studying his eyes then reached up and took his pulse.  
“Look I’m not going to dance around this, but do you love her?”  
He took a moment to compose himself “yes, but the damage has been done I doubt she will ever want to talk to me again”.  
Maru let out a sigh and shook her head “Did you try talking to her like an adult”?  
“Look I pay you to file not interfere with my personal life”.  
Maru made a face like Harvey just kicked a puppy. “give me a honest answer am I your friend or do you just see me as a employe.”  
Harvey couldn’t respond and turned away looking out the window.”  
“What are you scared of Harvey somebody pulling you out of your depressing life, somebody caring for you, You're no better than Shane you are just nicer about it.”  
“Look this is my business, this is my life, I'm your boss and if you want a job tomorrow just drop all this”  
Her arms fell to her sides “I can’t because I care about you.”  
Frustrated he turned around and pointed to the door “Just leave, If you cared about me will you just leave.”  
She looked at him flustered on the verge of crying. “This is for your own good” She sighed and gave him one last look before going out the door.  
He was left alone in his apartment, truly alone except with his thoughts. Hyperfocusing on his thoughts.  
He was stupid for thinking he had a chance. Stupid at thinking maybe he could actually have a life beyond the walls of the clinic. Stupid for thinking maybe somebody could love him. 

Shane and Maru  
He looked down and found her asleep cuddling with the blanket. Making sure she was ok, he picked things up glancing the other way as he deposited her clothing in the washing machine. After feeding the chickens and her scruff of a dog, he sat by her pond for a smoke. He knew this was going to happen, he told her it was going to happen. It fucking pissed him off If only she had listened to him. He stayed there, watching the sun rise trying to figure out a solution. Hell any idea would help. He didn’t want to leave her alone, he knew she would do something drastic.  
A little after nine, he saw Maru stomping down the path  
“What the fucking hell did she do to Doc?” She screamed.  
Shane never saw Maru mad. Well he never saw much of her at all around town but he knew this type of girl crazy. He knew not to fuck with her.  
“Keep it down will ya? I just got her to sleep.”  
Thankfully she lowered her shrill voice “Doc was practically catatonic when I came to work. I know he was having issues but I figured if he wanted to me to know he would tell me himself.” She waved her hands wildly “I had to sedate Doc to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid and grab Abigail to watch him. He is a complete mess”.  
Shane raised his eyebrows in shock “Wait you drugged your boss?.... Nevermind I don’t want to get involved”.  
“I had to I thought he was going to do something stupid to himself he was talking like he was”  
Well Fern’s not exactly sunshine and roses too. This is as much as Captain idiot Doc’s fault as her.” He motioned to a log and she sat down.  
Putting his cigarette out with his foot, he leaned in so he wouldn’t have to yell “How much do you know?”  
After telling her everything he knew, she finally got quiet and her angry bitch face went soft. “I can’t believe he yelled at her.” She slammed her hand on the side of her head  
“For being an a doctor, Doc is sure stupid”  
She gave a sigh “Do what are we going to do”.  
Shrugging “We can let them sort them out themselves.”  
“Yeah and never see them talk to each other again because they’ve clearly done such a good job already.” she turned to him “Do you really think they love each other?”  
Shane shrugged “I wouldn’t know. I just know she's not mopey and unhappy until this happened.”  
Slowly nodding Maru was thinking. “I know Doc’s head over heals with her. I never seen him like this.” They both stood in in silence  
“Why do you care for Fern so much?”  
He shrugged “She's my friend. She understands life isn’t perfect endings and everything falls in a neat little package, she see’s me for something other than the drunk that stands in the corner. Despite how I treat everybody I do care if they're hurting.”  
“Well maybe you would have more friends if you open up a bit.”  
Shane couldn’t help but laugh “You make it sound so fucking easy.”  
Shrugging, she said “I don’t see you doing any better.” She glanced at her watch “I better go. I gave him enough to knock him out so he would sleep but he might wake up and I’m sure I would be better explaining things to him than Abigail.” She got up and brushed her pants off “Look I'll think of something just give me a while”  
Shane shook his head and lit another cigarette.  
He managed to convince Marnie to keep an eye on him while he went to work. Morris wasn’t happy he was late and made sure Shane knew it.  
Maru ambushed him on his lunch break while he smoking outside. He was about ready to ask her why was she talking to him .  
“If there going to act like children, we’re going to treat them like children”.  
He raised his eyes in question.  
“Were going to get them together so they can think about how they acted and how they should of handled it better”  
“So essentially we're going to ground them.”  
She shrugged “If you wanna call it that yes but I was thinking more along the lines of locking them up in a room and forcing them to talk to each other.”  
“That's your grand plan? You're insane, there probably kill each other.”  
“Well Ferns shorter than me so I don't think she can take Harvey on and Harvey would never hurt anybody, worse they could do to each other is yell and they already did plenty of that.”  
Shane sighed and ran his hand through his hair.  
“This sounds ridiculous.”  
She placed a hand on her hips “Do you have any better ideas?”  
He looked at the ground “Nope.”  
With a look of satisfaction on her face she placed a arm on his shoulder. “Don’t worry if one of them kills the other one I’ll be your friend.”


	18. Chapter 18

Fern  
Fern woke up groggy feeling damp between her legs and a cramp in her lower stomach. “Just fucking wonderful.” She murmured as she got a change of clothes. She could've avoided this whole mess if this happened a week and a half ago. She shuffled to the bathroom to change and tried desperately not to think about the previous days events. In her drug induced sleep, she had a few nightmares of Harvey yelling at her with hate in his eyes. She cuddled with Goldie and she licked Ferns face until she got drowsy and went back to sleep.  
Somebody, she guessed it was Shane, cleaned up for her and left a stack of toast on the table. She stuck one in her mouth suddenly starving. She realized that Shane had taken care of Goldie and her crops. Shaking her head, she needed to find a way to thank him. With nothing to do, she was left alone with her thoughts. Groaning she pressed her head into the wall and wondered how did everything spiral out of control. She was surprised by a voice interrupting her.  
“you going to bail?”  
She shook her head “No Shane I already ran away from enough of my life. I'm going to go on with my original plans. I’m almost done fixing this place up, all I need to do is put it on the market. Hopefully I'll have enough money to tide me over with an apartment till I can get a job again,” she laughed “maybe Joja will take pity on me if I beg. Then the doctor will never have to deal with me again.”  
“Do you want my honest opinion Fern?”  
“No but I think I’m going to get it.”  
He grabbed her shoulders “you make mistake after mistake and wonder why your life still crappy, Go fucking talk to him."  
"Shut up Shane it's not like you're doing any better than I am. You don’t get to fucking lecture me."  
"I only do it because I care about you."  
"well I care about you too but I don't go off on you getting drunk every night and hiding in the back of the bar"  
Shane motioned between him and her "wanna know why we're friends because we're too much alike we just lie to ourselves in different ways."  
"You know you can fuck off."  
"Fine get mad at me and ignore your feelings don't come to me when you feel miserable."  
"Now you sound like Harvey".  
"Well I always knew I was a smart man just never doctor smart."  
"Fuck you you cocky bastard."  
"Remind me to get you a Thesaurus for your birthday.”  
Shane held up a hand “truce ok I don’t want you to get all worked again my final word on this is I think you're making a huge mistake.”  
“Thanks for your imput but it's my decision”.  
Shane shook his face biting his lip and handed her a note “Maru asked if you can go by the clinic and sign some papers.”  
She opened her mouth to say no and Shane held up his hands in defeat “Don't worry he won’t be there.”  
She ran a hand through her unwashed hair.  
“I’ll go with you and if the Doc shows up I can clock him for you.”  
She wouldn’t take her eyes off the ground.  
He decided to try a different tactic “Look you haven’t left the house in days people are worried about you, you need sunlight, your dog misses you put your shoes on, grit your teeth and let's go surely you experienced things worse than this”.  
Interlocking a arm in hers, he lead her to the clinic.  
Maru gave her a sad smile. “If you go into the exam room, I'll get the paperwork ready.” She glanced around nothing physical had changed but the feel of the clinic was too emotionally hard on her. Maru walked out of the room leaving the door open and went in the waiting room. A few minutes passed before Maru looked at Shane “Now?” He nodded and both of them ran to the double doors putting a pipe between the handles”.  
Fern sat there stunned for a second, It had barely registered in her brain what happened. She jiggled the door handles. “What the hell Shane!” She could hear thundering down the steps from the apartment. A confused Harvey came out.  
“Whats with all the screaming?” He saw Fern and his face went serious. “What's going on?”  
“They locked the door on us.”  
Harvey walked up and gave it a try and nothing.  
“Come on Maru. This isn’t funny.”  
“Seriously if you two are going to behave like children, we’re going to treat you like children.”  
Laughing Shane was amused the plan worked “We’re not letting you out until you talk to each other and sort out whatever issues you have.”  
Fern paced “Oh for fucks sake.”  
Harvey sighed “Maru if you don’t open this door so help me you won’t have a job.”  
She walked up to the glass “Harvey I don't care, Anyways I thought you already were going to fire me for involving myself in your personal life? I’m I’m going to lose this job I want it to be worth it and you better talk to each other. We're not letting you out until you do”.  
Harvey rolled his eyes and angrily slammed on the door.  
“I’m going to see if there is a window or something” Fern huffed  
“Don’t bother there isn’t.”  
She stomped off only to return a few moments later  
“Told you so, but why should you listen to me after all you never listen to what I have to say.”  
She rolled her eyes “I’m going to break this door down.”  
“No!” shouted Harvey “Do you know how expensive it is to replace that door?”  
“Don’t worry I’ll pay for it.”  
“I don’t think your income can cover it” He snapped. There was a long pause in silence as Fern tried to work out what she had to say.  
“You know what Harvey you think just because you're older than me you know better but you don’t. I don’t care that you went to college and know everything. Stop treating me like a child. I know I made a mistake everybody makes mistakes you can’t honestly tell me you lived your entire life not doing something you regret.”  
“No because I think before my actions unlike you”  
“Oh yes you're so fucking perfect aren't you Harvey”  
“I never said I was perfect.”  
“Harvey this is the reason why you're alone and have no friends. How you became a doctor is beyond my thinking capacity, it's like if I were a rocket scientist. You have no people skills, you have no ability to understand and deep down I think you hate everybody else. I thought you were this nice kind person but inside you're still bitter because this isn’t how you expected your life to be and you want to toss a hissy fit take the ball and go home”  
He swung his hands in the air “You have no idea what you're talking about you're just spouting sentences just to justify yourself Now I know why Michael broke up with you”.  
She felt like she was about ready to cry and turned and walked into the recovery room slamming the door closed. 

Harvey  
There are moments in his life when looking back he knows he should of kept his mouth shut. The way her face looked at him when he brought up her Ex Boyfriend, that was one of that moments. The thing about him and screaming that once he started it's hard for him to stop and the more she talked to him the more angry he got. First at her then himself because what she said was true. Walking up to his apartment he sat on his couch and sighed. He must of dozed off a but because he was awoken when he could hear movement outside his door.  
He heard a knock on the door and Fern on the other end looking like she would rather be in any place but there.  
“Look I didn’t bring any of my stuff. I thought this was going to be a five minute deal and I’d be home. I don’t even have my wallet or meds.”  
Shifting from angry into doctor mode, He nodded and went downstairs.  
In a small voice she asked “Do you also happen to have any feminine products on hand?”  
Coming back with what she asked for and a change of clothing, he set it down. He could tell that Fern was trying hard not to show him she was crying. She looked tired, defeated and emotionally drained.  
His voice started to waver “They might be a bit big on you but they’re the smallest I have. I try and keep a stock of various sizes you never know when somebody comes in here from the mines and I have to destroy clothing to get to it so I can stop the bleeding.” He knew he was babbling again he always did that when he was overwhelmed, constantly talk or spout out facts. He paused for a second and studied her then went upstairs.  
Brewing a cup of tea just for the simple task of keeping himself busy mostly it was for his brain to think. Part of him felt awful for how he acted to he but that small nagging part of his brain told him she deserved it. Everything changed when saw her crying. Seeing her now her eyes red her face full of sleeplessness he knew she was hurting as much as he was his words and action most likely not helping. He had never made anyone cry before and he felt horrible for it  
He couldn’t even begin to think how to fix it. Sure he knew he could apologize he already did kind of but maybe that wasn’t enough. Would anything ever be enough.  
Harvey came back with a mug “Drink this it will help.”  
Looking at the cup she sniffed it then brought it to her face examining it.  
“It's just tea I didn’t put anything in it, if you're uncomfortable you're welcomed to go upstairs and make a new one.”  
“No I was just wondering why it has cats on it. You don’t seem like the tea drinker.”  
He shrugged “Sometimes I need to wind down at night camomile helps. There are some things modern medicine lacks in sometimes. I would much rather give people a bottle of melatonin than prescribe sleeping pills”.  
She sat on the bed and sighed looking at the clock.  
Getting up noticing it was lunchtime,. “Are you hungry? I don’t have much but you get first pick of Salisbury steak or Turkey and Gravy.” She followed him up to the apartment behind him looking at the ground. She sat at his work table as she looked at his paint trying to look busy while he was at the microwave. She looked small like she was trying to disappear. He put the dish in front of her and sat across the room from her on the couch. He could feel her glancing at him every now and then. He knew if he made eye contact again he would start yelling or crying or a bit of both so he looked straight in front of him looking at the turned off TV.  
“Harvey can you look at me for one second?”  
He glanced up but still avoided eye contact. She took a deep breath “Look I’m sorry for being stupid. This entire thing was my fault. Yes I slept with Michael but that was just hours before we got together. If I known that everything was going to happen I wouldn’t of had sex with him. I don’t even know why i did it in the first place. Maybe if I actually thought about things before I acted, you wouldn’t hate me.  
Blinking he went over the words in his head. She didn’t deliberately try to hurt him this was just the result of bad timing, misunderstanding, and his own stupidity.  
He gave a sigh putting his dish down “I don’t hate you, I don’t think that you're stupid and it's not all your fault. I’m sorry I was so hard on you a few days ago.” He paused wanting to say more but not knowing what to say. After finishing the rest of her food, she went downstairs.  
He paced around not knowing what to do. His thoughts went to Maru’s speech.  
She was right she, was always right people interaction coming easily for her. Yes he was scared, he was terrified. He didn’t expect to kiss her or have her kiss him back. He never thought of her leading him to her bed. In his wildest dreams he couldn’t imagine her liking him back. There had to be some catch.  
Maybe there was still hope and he could at least salvage the friendship. He knew it was going to hurt watching her move on with her life without him but it hurt more not having her in his life. It hurt him knowing he caused this.  
He took a deep breath and went down the stairs. 

Shane and Maru  
“Are they still yelling at each other?”  
Maru looked through the glass “Looks like it.”  
Maru flopped on a chair in the waiting room “Guess I’m going to be here for a while. You know if you want to go home or to the bar, you can.”  
Shane pushed back his hair “Nah we're kinda in this together.”  
“Do you want to have dinner?”  
He looked at her confused “You mean together?”  
“Yes together.”  
Shane narrowed his eyes “Are you asking me out?”  
“As much as I love pissing my dad off, no it's just a dinner between friends.”  
“Are we friends?”  
“I would like to be.”  
“Are you paying?”  
She laughed “Sure come on. They're not going anywhere.” 


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's talk about issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue, Dialogue, Dialogue...

Fern  
Laying on the bed, she could hear him moving around upstairs and she closed her eyes. Hearing him come down the steps he appeared in the doorframe.  
“My name is Greg. Technically on paper, Greg Harvey the second.”  
She nodded slowly as he walked in and grabbed a chair.  
“I hate my name, I like to pretend it doesn't exist the the only reason I use it is for legal reasons that's why I don’t like getting called by it. When everybody started calling me Doctor Harvey and I never corrected them."  
He looked at her trying to gage if he was boring her.  
"Growing up I was miserable. There I was this scrawny little kid, no friends, only child, scared of everything.”  
He gave a sigh and looked at his hands uncomfortably.  
Fern leaned closer to him “Look if you don’t want to tell me you don't have to.”  
He shook his head “I should've told you this a long time ago. I didn’t have a very happy childhood my father and mother argued all the time mostly because my father didn’t want my mother to work. I know for a fact he didn’t want to have children because I could hear them arguing one time when they thought I was asleep. My father cheated on my mother a few times and I know my mother didn’t want to leave him because she thought it would upset me. When I was ten, my mother got sick and I didn’t take it well. I had panic attacks and refused to go to school, afraid if I did go something would happen to my Mother. Despite how my dad treated me my mother loved me unconditionally so when she got sick and wasn’t around as the buffer for me I didn’t know what to do. Eventually I was sent to a psychologist who suggested I might have a Autism spectrum disorder. Even though I was high functioning and the only way you could notice were my lack of social skills and my obsession with airplanes. I always knew my father disliked me but once my mother was in the hospital and I got the diagnosis he let it show. To him I was this flaw in the family tree. He felt like he had enough of his meek book reading son and sent me away to boarding school where the only time I got to come home where summers and even then he treated me like a burden. My only friend there was a girl named Bethany who had a brother who was lower functioning on the spectrum than me. When I turned fifteen I went home for the summer only to find out both my mom and my dog died and my father didn’t bother to tell me. He ended up sitting down with me at the end of the summer and told him that he paid off my boarding school fees until I graduated and he didn’t want me to come home anymore. I went back to school and pretended nothing happened”. I eventually got enough courage to tell Bethany I liked her sometime my senior year of high school but she gave me the ‘I like you as a friend speech’ she went off at got married and there went the only person i had to talk to".  
Fern looked up into his eyes “Is your dad still around?”.  
Harvey shook his head “No he passed away about three years ago I went to his funeral out of respect but almost everybody there weren't even aware he had a son. In fact he didn’t even mention me in his obituary.”  
He shook his head and sighed. “It seemed like my entire life people were just nice to me out of pity or obligation.”  
Fern felt bad “I'm sorry if I was like that in the beginning.”  
He shook his head “I don’t care anymore.” he turned to her “I’m not good with people, I know what you're thinking what kind of doctor isn’t good with people. I can diagnose a medical problem in my sleep but interacting with people is completely out of my element. When I’m nervous or unsure of myself facts never let me down. I liked you, I liked you from when I first met you and that was scary for me. When I found out you had a boyfriend and weren't planning on staying I did my best to be professional but then you kept coming and bringing me coffee, you kept asking me personal questions, you took care of me when I was sick. I don’t know. It seemed like you generally cared for me” He ran a hand through his hair and laughed “I’m just not that good with people. I need to stop repeating myself that's another thing I do when I’m frustrated at myself”.  
He bit his lip and Fern could tell he was slowly picking out his next words.  
“I however am sorry for how I acted. I just assumed I was being used again that I was just yours until something better came along,or that I was just entertainment” He gave a sigh pulling back “and now you can see why I live alone and have no friends.”  
“You have friends you have Maru, you have everyone in town.”  
He shook his head “That's not what I mean. I just wanted to help people so I became a doctor thinking maybe I could find fulfilment through that, since I missed out on the more social aspects of life.” He looked up from his hands “Sorry I didn’t want to offload this long depressing story on you.”  
“Oh Harvey I'm glad you told me it explains some things.”  
“I don’t want sympathy. It was years ago and I got over it, probably not the best way I could but that's why I see a therapist for. Yes I do may have some lingering issues but I don’t want to use my disability as an excuse. I hate myself for the fact that I am an adult and have issues with something as simple as communication.”  
She moved her hand from his knee to put it ontop of his. They sat like that for a few moments.  
“I’m glad you trusted me to be your friend.”  
“As lame as it sounds you were the first friend I felt I made on my own. He shook his head “I was horrible to you and I’m sorry.”  
“Don’t blame yourself. I was no better. I should've told you my intentions from the beginning I was just scared.”  
“I’m just bad with people”  
“Stop saying that alright Harvey. You're not good or bad your just you and I don’t have a problem with it”.  
He shook his head to himself. “You know Bob Dylan once said ‘All I can do is be me… Whoever that is.”  
“Sounds like useful advice maybe I should follow it”  
He looked at her with his green eyes “Do...do you think we can be friends again?” he asked his voice breaking.  
She shook her head “Oh Harvey...I don’t think we can go back to being friends.”  
She saw his face fall.  
Taking a deep breath she grabbed his hands “Don't take this the wrong way.”  
He looked at her sad trying not to cry.  
This wasn’t going how she wanted. She closed her eyes she was just going to say it and let it all out. It’s not like she had anything to lose.  
“I can’t go back to you just being my friend because I love you. Before you say anything let me talk because I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I realized it. I love you. I don't know when or how it happened I just do. It took me a long time to figure it out. In fact, I denied for the longest time that I didn’t have feelings for you and you were nice to everybody. Then I got to know parts of you, your kind heart, your always willing to help people out, then somehow that turned into love.  
I love everything about you, I love it when you start obsessing over something I don’t understand, I love that you have twenty seven white shirts, I love the way your eyes close and your cheeks puff out when you smile. I love how your eyes are green but sometimes in the right light and you're doing the right facial expression they look brown”  
She gave a sigh “I want to know everything about you Harvey. I wanna see your baby pictures, I wanna know your favorite books, movie, songs.” She grabbed his hand “I want to know everything that makes you Harvey. The good, the bad, the inbetween and I can’t do that by just being your friend”.  
Harvey stared at her blinking tears running down his face “After everything, after I didn’t listen to you when you said you wanted to talk, after I shut you out, after I yelled, no screamed at you, you still see me as having a kind heart and be able to love me.”  
She nodded “It was my fault for not being able to tell you exactly how I felt I got in over my head and despite everything that happened I still care about you unconditionally. I know if anybody looks at this relationship they might not understand it they might wonder how we put up with one another but there not me, there not you. After all you were the one who said ‘love isn't by the book’”.  
He gave a sigh and leaned his head on the wall. “is this the same person who was yelling Fuck You just hours ago”.  
“I had nothing but time to think this past month, this past year. She held out her hand showing her ringless finger “It's over. It's been over for a while. I don’t know what I was holding on to him for. I guess I just didn’t want to be alone, and somebody was better than nobody. I don't have anything but him to compare to and yes he would always be a part of my life but I want you. I’m not good with words or thoughts or feelings but I want you to know you aren't my second choice, you aren't runner up. I just never knew I wanted this option until it presented itself. I know I should've told you sooner but I’m absolute crap at making decisions and would rather have the decision made for me even if it's something I don’t want. I mean I had my life planned out, sure it wasn’t amazing but I knew what was going to happen the next day and the week after. Then I met you”  
She gestured to him. “You made me actually consider my happiness. This wasn’t in my plan but now I want it to be”.  
He pulled his head from the wall and looked at her.  
“Can you be quiet?”  
She nodded waiting for him to say something but he just grabbed her in his arms and kissed her. “I love you too.” he whispered.  
“I’m going to be a jerk sometimes, I’m going to disappear and not come out for days, I am most likely going to disappoint you and you’re most likely going to hate me for that. I can however promise you one thing I will never try to intentionally hurt you again. I may not be the most exciting guy but I'll try my hardest and be loyal for you for the rest of my life.”  
She flexed her fingers, intertwining them with his. “I wanna try again Harvey, please. Let take things slow, get to know each other more, actually get to court you”  
He smiled down at her. “Alright on one condition.” She tilted her head to look at him.  
“Sure?”  
“Will you go on a date with me once Maru unlocks the door, a good and proper date? I don’t think we ever had one.”  
“As long as you can be my doctor again.”  
“Alright”  
Fern was surprised, it shouldn't of been this easy after all of that it just felt too easy.  
She tried to lighten the mood “At least you don’t hate me anymore and you're looking at me now”.  
“I didn’t look at you because I hated you I couldn’t look at you because I know if I did I would break down and believe me you don’t want to deal with my sorry face when I get depressed”  
“Harvey can I just lay next to you for a while?”  
He nodded and scooted over next to her. Fern wrapped her arms around him burying her face in his neck.  
Somehow in the night they both fell asleep arms around each other. Despite being in the recovery room, she wasn’t woken as soon as the morning light hit the windows but woke up gradually. Harvey was already awake.  
“You looked so peaceful I didn’t want to move and wake you.” she smiled at him sleepily. He sat up putting his shoes on “You hungry? I think I have enough food to surpass for a breakfast.”

Shane and Maru  
“So there I was, Morris mad as hell and all the time I’m trying to keep a straight face trying not to laugh.” He shook his head. “I hate that fucking job but it has its moments of tolerability”.  
Maru pushed her plate away.  
Shane took a drink from his beer “Thank goodness you're not one of those girls who picks at her food”.  
“Shane.”  
“Yes?”  
“I like you, you can take that however you want but I’m still going to like you.”  
He opened his mouth “Look I’m sure it’s just a schoolgirl crush but I’m really not the long term relationship type. I’m the last guy you date before you find your soulmate. I can send you references”  
“Have you ever given anyone a chance?”  
He sat in silence and she smirked.  
“I suggest a trial run. Three dates maximum if you want more we could talk about it but I would like for you to give me a chance.”  
“Can we go to dinner at your house? I always thought your dad was a smug asshole no offence.”  
She laughed “He can be, but word of warning when he gives you the shovel talk.”  
He waved his hand “I’ve been through plenty of those before, don’t worry no father can phase me.”  
“Should we check up on them?”  
“So what are the bets on if they killed each other yet?”  
Maru waved Shane over. “Be quiet,” she whispered “look.” She pointed to Fern and Harvey cuddling on one of the beds in the recovery room fast asleep.  
“Holy fuck it worked.”  
Maru smiled “never doubt me Shane. I’m going to go home and tell my dad the good news I would lay low if I were you.”  
He tried not to laugh.  
“Oh and can you not wear that awful hoodie it has holes in it?” He raised his eyebrows  
“I’m sure you own a shirt with buttons and a collar.” She touched him on the shoulder “See you at five.”

Harvey  
He managed to pour two bowls of cereal and glass of milk for Fern and set them on the table. Wandering in, Fern took a seat across from him and silently ate. Harvey couldn’t even begin thinking about topics for small talk. Maybe silence was for the best.  
“I was a wreck without you.” she blurted out. Harvey didn’t know how to react to that.  
“I was pretty miserable too” he admitted. She gave him a small smile.  
“I could tell.” She gestured to his messy apartment.  
“Thankfully you weren't here to pull me off the floor after I got drunk from whiskey and soda. I need to give Maru a raise”.  
“Good I don’t have to give you my please don’t fire her speech”  
“If it wasn’t for her I would of ran this clinic into the ground years ago".  
She shook her head “I can’t imagine you drunk”.  
He realized she was looking at him “Whats with the cup? You don’t seem like a cartoon cats person.”  
He looked down “I had this cup forever it's the only one I drink out of.”  
“Do you only have one cup?”  
He avoided looking at her suddenly feeling self conscious. Was she making fun of his cup he couldn’t tell.  
“I can give you extra cups that I have for some reason people always give them to me as gifts that and body lotion.”  
“It's not lack of cups. I'm just rather fond of this one.”  
“Did your girlfriend give it to you?”  
“Bethany wasn’t my girlfriend but yes.”  
“Is that her on the fridge?”  
Uneasy with all the questions he glanced back “yes.”  
“When was the last time you saw her?”  
“A few months ago, we had coffee why?”  
“I don’t know, it’s not like I’m jealous that I have competition. I just don’t want to see you hurt.”  
Not realizing it he snapped at her harsher than he intended “I’m a big boy I can solve my own problems.”  
“Did she give you the socks too?”  
“What socks?”  
She blushed “Umm the first night we… on my birthday, you had a pair of striped socks. They just seemed so unlike you... I wondered.”  
“Yes she gave me the socks too.”  
Suddenly it was back to Harvey feeling awkward around her.  
A knock on the apartment door made them both look up.  
He got up on his feet and opened it to find Demetrius.  
“Did you forget we have a ten thirty appointment?”  
He gawked at him “Did Maru let you in?”  
He shook his head “No the door was open.”  
Harvey held up a finger “Just give me a few minutes”.  
He turned to Fern who was putting the dishes in his sink.  
“I guess now that it's unlocked I better be getting home”.  
“Hey come here I meant what I said about the date that is if you still want too”  
She nodded slowly.  
“Are you going to be alright?”  
She nodded again “I’m always alright.”  
He gave her a small smile and kissed her forehead.  
“Bethany calls me Greggy I hate it”  
She couldn’t help but smile at him. “Don’t worry I won’t call you Greg unless you want me to.Your always going to be my old man Harvey to me. Unless you don’t want me to call you that old man I mean”  
“I was annoyed at it at first but now I like it the way you say it now feels like a term of endearment, Please don’t stop”  
“Well you're free to call me little girl as much as you want I feel the same way plus it reminds me that sometimes I fuck things up”  
He beamed at her he never thought those words would be the sweetest thing he heard come out of her mouth “Five at the Saloon little girl?”.  
She nodded.  
He gave her hand a squeeze and watched her walk out before walking to his dresser for his work clothes.  
\---  
Harvey sat smiling as he did his paperwork the main door open and closed and he looked up to see a sheepish Maru peeking over the edge of the doorframe.  
“So are you going to fire me?”  
He did his best to keep a straight face. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”  
“Because you like me and i'm the only one who can fix your computer and file correctly.” She lifted up her hand “It worked didn’t it?” her eyebrows raised in question.  
He let himself smile “It did but next time I would rather not be caught in the middle of your hair brained schemes again”.  
She let a sigh of relief. “Have any work for me to do”  
He shook his head “I got it covered need to finish everything before my date tonight with Fern.”  
She let out a squeal “I’m so happy for you, wait are you going to the bar?”  
He nodded “Why?”  
She looked down at her shoes “Shane kinda sorta asked me out but we can go another time”.  
“Wait Shane asked you out… are we talking about the same Shane that practically lives at the bar”.  
She gave a slow nod.  
He opened his mouth to say something then changed his mind “He takes good care of Jas. You know what i'm not going to judge. I'll save that for your dad when he finds out. I’m sorry I make you think I see you as just an employee believe it or not I’m glad I have a friend like you in my life”.  
“Shane helped too”  
“Well remind me to thank him sometime”  
She ran up and gave him a hug.  
“Remember when you have kids, I get to be the godparent”  
He laughed.  
“Alright if I can be the godparent of yours and Shanes”.  
Blushing she left the room.  
He glanced at the clock. Time for him to get ready.  
Putting on some music as he went through his clothes he attempted to find what he was looking for. Fern always commented about his eyes and he knew this shirt would bring them out. Changing out of his pants he looked at himself transferring his wallet into the pocket and took a deep breath. He had no idea how many chances life was going to give him. He had to make this one matter. Looking at himself trying to ignore the tired lines in his face, “All right Harvey lets do this and try not to screw it up to much”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once I started writing I couldn't stop and it got to the length it was getting long even for me to keep track of so I decided to split the story into two parts. I was originally going to end the first part here but after thinking and rereading things I felt it needed a better conclusion and not end so abruptly before I posted the second half. I shuffled some chapters around rewrote things and hopefully it's more solid of a story. There are some more chapters to go and a happy ending I promise just expect more awkwardness.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First date  
> ✔Awkwardness  
> ✔Dad Jokes  
> ✔Corduroy Pants

Fern  
She saw him standing in a corner by bar and for a second didn’t recognize him. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets in a shirt she never seen him in before corduroy pants and did his best attempt to comb his unruly hair. It was a bit jarring not to see him in his shirt slacks and tie. For a second she just wanted to look at him. They made eye contact as she weaved through the tables and chairs to move closer. Giving him a grin trying to break the tension “didn't think you had a shirt in any color but white.  
He looked down at his shirt examining it “I do mix it up sometimes and wear plaid” He motioned for her to sit.  
They carefully made their way through conversation with Fern babbling about the farm, while Harvey nodded and slowly drank his wine. Fern didn’t even know he drank wine and made sure to keep a mental note on that. He was unusually quiet and Fern felt out of her element. It felt like they were back awkwardly talking at the clinic the first year while Maru played mediator.  
Giving a sigh she ran her hand through her hair. Maybe this wasn’t going to work out. Maybe the damage was already done. Forcing him to make small talk wasn’t helping.  
“Look I know I said i’m sorry but I don’t know what else to say to make this easier”. She motioned for Gus to bring her something alcoholic, she felt like this situation needed it. She took a big drink and almost choked. Harvey reached over and lightly patted her back handing her a glass of water. Fern could help like feeling the night get worse and worse and wanted to cry.  
Harvey reached over and tilted her chin “Hey look at me” He put his head in his hands and leaned closer to her. “No more apologizing ok”.  
She nodded.  
Clearing his throat “what's your favorite color”?  
She had to think about it for a second “I guess I like green what about you? “  
Blue, red too. Dog or Cat”  
“Dog”  
He nodded approvingly “I never bonded with cats that much”.  
“I have a question for you Harvey how come you don’t usually curse? I think I heard you do it once”.  
“I’m not good at talking to people as you know and I try to be careful about my words. I do curse when I feel the situation deserves it though but I don’t use it as punctuation like you do”.  
“I can tone it down if you want I’m just used to everybody around me doing it. Blame me living in the city for so long”.  
“I had to live in the city for college and I never picked it up” he teased.  
“Alright, alright back to twenty questions”  
He raised a eyebrow “favorite book?”  
Humm I guess the Time Traveler's Wife. I never been one for romance but I pretty much cry everytime I read it”.  
He took a sip of wine “I don’t think I read that one.  
“You?”  
“Well unless you want me to say The Encyclopedia of Pre War Airplanes I not much for fiction but my favorite short story is The Dandelion Girl by Robert F Young”.  
Fern felt like they were finally relaxing.  
As the evening went on they fell more into themselves the alcohol helping slightly. Holding up her hand feeling slightly buzzed  
“Allright want to hear the worst joke i know” nodding he took another sip of wine “what do you get when you cross an elephant and a rinio”.  
He gave her a quizzical look  
“Elephino”.  
He laughed and rolled his eyes “alright i can do one better” he leaned in close to her and raised his eyebrows “wanna hear a dirty joke, a white horse fell in the mud.  
She rolled her eyes  
“hey i thought that joke was hilarious when I was five”.  
“I can imagine you at five huge glasses, slacks possible a sweater vest”  
He pulled out his wallet and pulled out a picture “not exactly five but still young” Sure enough the picture was a young him in coke bottle glasses next to a Collie.  
“You looked happy”  
He smiled to himself before putting the picture back in his wallet “She was the best dog a kid could have”.  
Fern reached over and touched his shoulder “i'm sure you have enough free time for a dog now”  
He shook his head “Even if i did i dont have the space and it wouldn't be fair”  
“I love the fact that you're the type of guy who keeps a picture of his childhood dog in his wallet. I Love the fact that you carry a pocket watch, I love the fact you can tell me the wind speed just by looking outside”.  
“Dosen’t mean I’m accurate without a anemometer ”  
“Still it's pretty amazing, you're pretty amazing”  
He blushed and turned away.  
Gus eyed them being the last people to leave.  
He glanced at the clock “Getting late I should be getting you home”.  
They walked in silence through the town  
“You don't have to walk me home you know Harvey.  
He waved his hand dismissively “What kind of date would I be if I didn’t make sure you got home safely.  
She smiled to herself and scooted in closer to him as they passed by the clinic.  
“Well thank you it was lovely”  
“Wow i got a compliment” he teased.  
“Don’t get used to it”. Fern let out a sigh she didn't even realize she was holding in.  
They got to the edge of the farm Goldie barking at them happy to see people home. They stood there awkwardly next to the torches that lit up her walkway not knowing who should speak or what to say next.  
Finally she turned to him “hopefully i wasn’t to boring and you will try another date with me maybe we can skip the awkward part next time.”  
He pulled her in for a hug “I wouldn't miss it for the world’. She smiled into his chest not wanting to move from the soft flannel of his shirt. She wanted to know if the corduroy pants felt as soft as they looked. She wanted to ask him in, She wanted to snuggle up to his warm body while she slept. She wanted to wake up and the first thing she saw in the morning is his face. She knew if she asked him in she would never want him to leave.  
He kissed her on the forehead “Goodnight little girl”.  
___  
Fern didn’t think it was possible but she fell more and more in love with him. Seeing him drop her off at the farm while watching him walk home was getting harder and harder with every passing day. She wanted to run after him grab his hands and tell him he could stay forever. It was worse when he would make an offhand comment about living alone or compliment her bringing in food. She was starting to make up her mind and her future seemed more clearer than ever. She went to go talk to Robin about expanding the house. 

Harvey  
There dates contained either walking around town or having dinner together at the bar. They talked about everything and nothing at the same time, making small talk, telling stories about their childhoods, her living in the city, his life at medical school. One evening they sat in the town garden while he read her his favorite story. One evening she surprised him with a bouquet of flowers and rended him speechless.  
Sometimes he found himself doodling on the back of receipts or humming to himself. Last time he picked her up on the farm he noticed she had wrote the Bob Dylan quote he had referenced down on a piece of paper and tacked it next to her dresser. He found a book in her bag about Autism and He couldn’t help but feel like she was trying to understand him better. The fact that he found somebody who was willing to try. If Harvey was a more extraverted kind of guy he would find someplace high enough to yell that he was in love with her.  
One evening after another date at the bar he went to the closet where he kept spare blankets and boxes of old clothing. He sat rummaging in his boxes until he found what he was looking for. Opening up the box and realizing it was exactly how he remembered it being. Pulling the ring out he inspected it wondering if it would fit her, if she would like it. It wasn’t fancy but it was his mother's and he waited his entire life to find somebody to give it to. Now he just needed to figure the right time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys are insanely curious and want to read The Dandelion Girl.  
> https://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/young2/young21.html


	21. Chapter 21

Fern  
She grabbed Harvey by his coat sleeve.  
“You're going to miss it if you don’t hurry up.”  
“I don't even know what i’m missing.”  
Getting to the edge of her property she led him to the chicken coup.  
"There's no way I’m goin in there it's unsanitary”  
“Oh come on Harvey you're dating a farmer. You probably have no idea how many times I walked into the clinic with chicken muck on my shoes”.  
Harvey looked like he was going to throw up.  
“What’s going to happen if you ever move in someday you're going to have to get used to it".  
Harvey smiled at the thought she wanted him to live with her someday.  
The coop was cramped with the both of them and she led him to the incubator. Inside was a egg just starting to crack. The egg wobbled a little, the crack getting larger until a small hole appeared. Slowly by layers the hole got bigger and the crack got wider going vertical around the egg.  
“I know this isn’t as exciting as watching mammals give birth but I thought you might want to watch”.  
He motioned for her to be quiet and leaned in closer forgetting about getting chicken droppings on his shoes.  
Slowly the two sides opened at the crack and a wet ball of feathers came out shaking bits of shell off of it.  
“Can we take it out?” Harvey whispered.  
“No it has to stay warm don’t worry it will be ok. Just let her walk around and her used to her legs. Also if you handle it too much the chick will imprint on you and basically think you're his mom”.  
“What are you going to name it”  
“Why don’t you pick a name it's hard to tell right now if it's a boy or girl so keep that in mind or pick something unasex. Did you know there are more chickens in the world than people Shane taught me that I figured it would be a nice fact to add into the brain of yours”.  
“How smart are chickens? can they recognize their name?”  
“Well they know when you yell there name there's food but I doubt Sophia knows she is different than Rose. I think I have a book if you wanna look at it.  
Harvey nodded and took a step back not watching where he was going he slid in some fresh chicken droppings and fell backwards.  
Fern rushed to his side “Are you ok?”  
“I’m fine probably going to get a bruise”.  
“You're covered in hay and feathers do you wanna go take a shower before we go to dinner.  
He nodded as he got up wiping his hands on his pants legs.  
“Can I have your keys i'll run to the clinic and get you a change of clothing while you shower”. Digging in his pocket he got them out.  
“Feel free to make yourself at home. I'll just be a sec.”  
Coming back with his clean clothing she knocked on the door to the bathroom. The door opened and inch and she could see a green eye.  
“Oh Harvey it's not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”  
“I know but we were both distracted by other more important things at the time.”  
“So modest old man” She handed him his clothing turning away.  
He appeared slightly disheveled damp hair and smelling of her soap and shampoo.  
“Feel better” She asked.  
“Hows your back we don’t have to go to dinner if you don't want to.”  
“A little sore but i’m fine I think we're too late for dinner anyway”.  
She walked up to him and stuck her nose in his chest. “That’s ok we never get any alone time anyway”.  
“Well i intentionally do that since I know what happens when were alone”.  
“You know if you wanna do things and spend the night I would be ok with it.”  
“I thought we were taking things slow” he asked with a grin”.  
“Not this slow”  
“Give me a bit more time ok pretty girl.”  
She nodded and sighed into his body.  
He looped an arm around her back.  
“What are you doing?”  
“Dancing with you.”  
“But there's no music.”  
“There doesn't have to be I just want to dance with you.”  
“That's the most cheesiest thing I think i ever heard.”  
“Well you make me want to do silly things”.  
“Well I never got to go with you to the flower dance even though you asked me.”  
“It's alright”  
“No it isn’t I need to find a way to make it up to you.”  
“You will"  
Leaning herself into his chest she just wanted to show how much she loved him. Nothing she could put into words sounded right maybe if she held him long enough he would realize how much he meant to her.

Harvey  
They quickly lost track of how long they been together officially but they sat together at festivals held hands and the town accepted them as a couple.  
He wanted to propose to her a million times already but for some reason the words couldn’t come out of his mouth. Four simple words. Alone in his apartment he looked at himself in the mirror and practiced them but as soon as he saw her eyes his confidence disappeared.  
That evening they walked on the beach holding hands, They could hear Elliott play his piano. The night was unusually warm so Elliott had his door open and they could hear it clearly. Raising an eyebrow Harvey perked up recognizing the tune “Hey Gershwin I know this song”. He hummed a few bars along with the piano. When he saw her watching him he got embarrassed and stopped “sorry I'm tone deaf”.  
She tilted her head “I never had anyone sing to me before.”  
“Don’t give me that privilege I can sing I been working on the railroad nonstop.”  
She laughed “do you know how adorable you are?”  
He felt warm inside and reached in his pocket double checking if the ring was safe.  
They sat on the dock letting their feet dangle. Keeping his arm entwined in hers incase she fell in the water he put his head on her shoulder.The piano playing stopped and they were left alone with only the noise of the beach.  
“Fern I love you”  
“I love you too old man”.  
He played with the ring in his pocket, his chest heavy the words running in his head, instead his mouth said something else.“Is this where you thought your life would be when you were younger?”  
She shrugged “I never really thought about my future beyond what I wanted to watch on tv that week. I guess now it's different now I just think about what crops to plant”.  
He laughed “I mean did you ever sit and think about where will you be ten years from now twenty”  
She shook her head.  
He gave a sigh “well first of all I hope I make it twenty more years, i’m not exactly as healthy as I want to be. Sometimes I think I sabotage my happiness” This conversation wasn’t going like he planned.  
She ran her fingers on his hand letting him know she was listening.  
”I look back at myself in my twenties in my thirties and can point out all the times I shot myself in the foot. Part of me Is glad I live alone because I think I'm too introverted to be a good husband, too broken to be a good father” He gave a sigh “Sometimes I wondered if my parents didn’t have me if things would've worked out like they did. Sometimes I wondered if I’m just not proof of walking regret”.  
Fern wrapped her arms around him holding him tight. Trying to hold back from crying he breathed slowly. “I outlived both my parents I don’t really have a legacy to leave behind I'm sure Pelican Town will remember me as a good doctor but I'm sure as people get older and somebody else comes along I’ll be forgotten. He looked down at her “Thanks for listening to this old man ramble”.  
“Harvey, I love you so” she whispered and rested her head on his chest. She stayed holding him until it felt like she was going to doze off.  
He led her home in the moonlight carefully going around rocks so she wouldn’t fall but keeping his arm locked into hers if she did. He led to her the door and gave her a kiss “i'm going to regret staying up this late tomorrow” holding back a yawn.  
“Well maybe you can nap during lunch”.  
He shook his head smiling and turned around to go home another night another moment passed. She ran after him and pulled him by his shirt.  
“Harvey no matter how much you feel like you regret your life and its decisions i'm glad they led you to me. I wanna keep you forever” she mumbled into his chest.  
He closed his eyes embracing her and cursing himself at being such a coward. 


	22. Chapter 22

Fern  
Stopping early in the morning with some fruit she was surprised to see him out of his green coat and red tie. “Did I forget that today was something” “Sorry I have to go into the city to grab some things. She did her best to hide her disappointment. He walked up to her planting a kiss “Don’t worry when I’ll get back i'll stop and see you ok”  
She did her best to keep busy so the time would pass quicker. Her mind sometimes replayed the conversation they had last night. She had everything thought out and planned for tonight she just needed him there.  
Hands in his pockets he walked up to her giving her forehead a kiss “Sorry i'm late had to check on the clinic, do you wanna grab a bite to eat”.  
She shook her head “I actually cooked dinner for once.  
His eyes widened “you know how I love your food”.  
She nudged him with her elbow “well it is a way to a man’s heart after all” Chuckling they walked into the house and he glanced around  
“wait did you expand some?”  
“yeah I asked Robin to upgrade to the house since i'm staying so I can have more room for things.  
He took a step closer to her “so you decided to stay”  
“Uh-huh I grown rather fond of the people here, well one in particular”. He looked at her as if he was going to kiss her when the timer went off “That will be the food”  
“I’m sorry I can’t cook i’m still getting used to the kitchen”. She glanced at him apologetically. Robin had managed to find her a small dining table that she crammed in the corner by the window and Harvey's tall frame looked awkward in it. Like an adult in a kids playhouse. Smiling to herself she was glad Slowly the farm was beginning to feel like home the addition of Harvey in her kitchen made it complete.  
He seemed distracted looking out the window she touched his hand across the table and he jumped. Clearing his throat he looked lovingly at her. She couldn't help but grin back as her foot found his and brushed against it. Lightly caressing his hand she did the one thing she was aching to do since she saw him and that was to give him a long slow kiss.  
One kiss led to others and before they both knew it there dinner was forgotten. “Is this going too fast” she whispered pulling back.  
Shaking his head “No you have no idea how badly I missed this.”  
She let out a sigh they both crashed into the bed lightly kissing each other. Fern thought she forgot how to breathe.  
“Harvey wait” Fern murmured as he trailed kisses along her neck.“Harvey i just want you to know I love you”  
He tilted his head “I kinda got that already.”  
Taking a deep breath “No I really love you i think about you all the time i miss you when you're not around. She shook her head and looked at him “I'm pretty smitten Doctor Harvey.”  
He gave her a smile.  
Suddenly her mind was blank and she was nervous. Grabbing his hand she trust an object into it. Looking down at it his eyes widened “Do you know what this means?”  
She nodded “I know it's a stupid silly tradition but I figured if I was going to do it, do it in the right way.”  
They sat a few moments in silence both staring at the shell pendent and Fern began to panic. “Please say something” She begged.  
He kissed her and she could feel him digging in his pocket. “Well i guess we were thinking the same thing” before placing a ring in her palm. “I been wanting to ask you for weeks but I could never get the words out of my mouth or the timing wasn’t right, I don’t know I’m such a coward sometimes”.  
She looked at him eyes wide “You been carrying that around for weeks?.”  
“Well months, you never said yes”  
She closed her eyes trying to hold back the tears as she slowly she began to form words nodding “Yes if you say yes to me”  
She looked in his eyes those wonderful sweet eyes full of love for her and she started to cry.  
“Fern my answer is yes too. ”  
Unable to believe it she couldn't help but repeat herself. “were going to get married”  
Running a finger against her face catching the tears “looks like we are”. They both smiled at eachother before he pulled her in close.  
He fiddled with his fingers nervous “so when do you want to get married?”  
She held his hands trying to calm him down. “Tomorrow I don't want to spend another moment without you”.  
He chucked “nether do I dear but I think we need to give Lewis more notice”. He looked up at the ceiling “three days?” he asked.  
She threw her hands around him “good enough for me.”

Harvey   
They laid next to each other just holding each other. They both didn’t know what to say, what could be said all the important stuff was covered. She loved him, he loved her they were going to spend the rest of their life together what more could they have wanted. Harvey yawned and sat up “I better get going”  
“You don’t want to say?”  
Oh he wanted to stay, he never wanted to get up from laying in this bed with her.  
“I do but I have a long day tomorrow and a wedding to plan to to mention packing my stuff”.  
She led him to the door smiling. “I know I said this a million times already but I love you”.  
He pressed his forehead to hers “I love you too and i'll see you tomorrow if you have time do you wanna have lunch together”  
She nodded as he clasped her hands running his finger over the ring. It looked perfect on her.  
Opening the door to the clinic and locking it behind him he smiled as he climbed the steps.  
Flopping on his bed he put a hand on his heart and sighed. He had no idea how he was going to be able to go to sleep.  
\---  
Fern walked in backpack swung over her shoulder. “hard at work I see.”  
He gave her a smile “hey pretty girl.”  
She handed him a cup of coffee “figured you might need it.  
He took the cup and sighed “you read my mind”.  
She smiled and slid a chair next to him.  
“Morning was awful It was busy non stop, I just now had a moment to rest” He rubbed his neck “I'm pretty exhausted”.  
“Sorry that's kinda my fault”.  
He leaned his head on her shoulder  
“i’m glad though” He ran his fingers on the top of her hand.  
Fern dug in her backpack and pulled out an apple “eat and if you want I can cook you something tonight”.  
He sighed and closed his eyes. After a few moments he fell asleep on her shoulder.  
She gently nudged him “come on go lay down in your bed and take a nap I can keep an eye on things”  
He opened his mouth to say no and Fern gave him a gentle shove to the double doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I jumped on the farmer playlist bandwagon that's going around tumblr.  
> Some songs influenced the story, some songs are referenced in the story and some songs I could't stop listening to when I was writing the story.  
> http://foxtrotfandom.tumblr.com/post/145748342681/sweet-mistakes-playlist


	23. Chapter 23

Fern  
At three he was still asleep so she decided to check up on him. After locking the clinic door with the spare keys she silently walked up and found him passed out on the couch. After looking in the fridge for food she decided to swing by next door and see if she could grab something.  
Pierre bagged her things smiling “So word about town is you're getting married to Harvey”.   
She nodded proudly.   
“He’s a nice guy, make him happy”   
“I’ll try” She couldn’t help but skip to the clinic.  
Silently she puttered around his small kitchen trying not to wake him up. Eventually he stirred when he smelt the food. Reaching from behind her he hugged her.   
“I hope you like pasta because it's one of the few things I make good. He cleaned the table off and set the plates”.   
“So I talked to Mayor Lewis and everything seems good to go I just have to get the wedding rings”.  
“I never got the concept of engagement rings. Is it ok if I just use my engagement ring as my wedding ring”.   
“Sure if that's what you want”   
She nodded “I never been into jewelry that much plus working all the time i'm sure it would just get scuffed up”.   
He nodded then got up and fiddled around with his dresser. “If you want you can wear it on a chain”. He handed it to her “It was my mother's one of the few things I managed to sneak out of the house.   
“Are you sure you want to give me this” she asked with large eyes”.   
“Don’t worry I have other things of hers”. You know the ring was hers too”   
She was curious “can you tell me more about her your mom”.   
He smiled to himself leaning back in the chair. “She was a wonderful cook, she used to make the best cookies Evelyn's are pretty good but there were something about my mom’s that you can't replicate. She loved musicals and forced me to watch them as a kid and once staged momed me in a production of to Kill a Mockingbird”   
Fern ran her fingers along the chain. “Wait that's not a musical”   
He rolled his eyes “i know, I was a horrible Attacus. But anyway she was a teacher loved her job and talked about her students as much as me. However the thing I loved most about her was no matter what i did or said she accepted me for who I was” He pulled out a thin photo album from his bookcase and flipped through it “here a picture of her and me” Fern studied the picture and noticed his mom had his eyes. She paged through it some leaning on him as he pointed out various people.  
“Are you planning on inviting anybody to the wedding I know it's short notice?”   
He shook his head “pretty much all of the people I’ll consider my family are gone and pretty much everybody I care about lives in this town. What about you?”   
She shook her head “Only family I have is my dad and I have no idea where he is”.  
He smiled and pulled her close “tell me about your mom”.   
“Not much to say. My parents got divorced when I was a baby They hated each other so much I wondered why they got married in the first place. I lived with my mom and saw my dad on weekends. I was pretty much the messenger for their arguments “tell your mom she can go fuck herself the check is in the mail’ kind of stuff. She died when I was ten”.  
“I’m sorry how did she die if you don’t mind me asking”.   
She shook her head and took deep breaths to calm herself “she got sick really sick one winter, I didn’t know what to do. I called my dad and he told me it was most likely the flu. It wasn’t she ended up having double pneumonia her fever spiked one night and had a seizure. I just didn’t know what was happening and I ended up having my first panic attack” She looked at her hands "Maybe if I did more, maybe if I got her to a doctor, I don’t know she still might be alive looking back I feel it was all my fault”.   
Harvey pulled her into a hug and she cried into his shirt. “You were ten, it wasn’t your fault”.   
Despite Harvey trying to comfort her his words made her cry more.   
“You must of been terrified out of your mind when you found me sick”.   
She nodded “if it wasn’t for the anxiety medicine calming me down I don’t know how I could of done it”.   
Holding her tighter he rested his chin on the top of her head and reached for a tissue.   
Blowing out her nose “well at least that was the turning point for my feelings for you. If that never had happen I might be in a shitty apartment in the city now lonely”.   
“I'm glad you stayed”.   
Blowing out her nose again “anyway back to the story I was in foster care for a bit then moved in with my dad and after that we moved around alot he had this habit of going too fast into relationships, usually he ignored me when he attempted to woo his next girlfriend, some of them had kids and he ended up paying more attention to them than me. When I started middle school we moved next to the Gomez’s and they kinda took me in. I ended up dating their son Michael because his mom wanted us together so bad. Her and her husband ended up getting in a car accident right after I turned eighteen and passed away so I just naturally lived with Michael. I think i was scared I had nowhere else to go. I had lost contact with my dad he was more than happy to pawn me off to the first people who would take me”.   
She looked up at Harvey's sad eyes “Still want to marry me knowing I’m broken?”  
“Always we can be broken together. Maybe we can sort things out and someday be less broken, sorry I’m not good with words right now”   
“Its ok” She held his hand “do you think this is going to work, us i mean, getting married”.   
“I don’t know but i’m thankful for the chance and even if we fail we have the good memories”.   
She shook her head and smiled at him “you were right when you said you don’t know how to talk to people”.   
He kissed her “be patient with me I’ll get better”.  
\---  
Fern spent the next day moving things around trying to arrange the room so it looked better. Hearing a knock she wiped her hands on her jeans and went to open the door. “Hey Shane what's up.”  
“nothing much rumor around town says you're getting married.”  
“Yeah sorry I didn’t tell you everything kind of happened all at once.”  
“Well I heard it from Maru, who heard it from Penny, Penny found out through Gunther and Lewis told him”.  
“Well Pierre knows so everyone should know by now”.  
He cracked a smile “Well i’ll see you at the wedding then.”   
“Hey Shane Harvey might be be my husband but you're always going to be my best friend”   
“You too girly I’m happy for you. I mean if Doc could melt your cold heart maybe there is hope out for me”.   
She nudged him “things going good”?   
He nodded “At first I think she asked me out just to piss off her dad but she’s pretty fun to be around and smart, too smart I can’t keep up with her, I’m just a smart ass” He smiled to himself “Jas loves her and she feels the same.”   
“what about you how do you feel?”   
“I don’t know I never been in love but I think I may be getting close, you turned me into a sap”.   
She shook her head laughing “I didn’t do a damn thing you're the one who fell in love with her.”   
“Hey I never said I was in love with her.”   
“We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you weren't” Sighing he shook his head but noticed he was still smiling”.  
\---  
She met Harvey at the dock “sorry for keeping you waiting I lost track of time”.   
He leaned and kissed her “it's ok.   
They sat down letting their feet dangle.   
She ran her hand along his pants enjoying the softness “do you own any jeans and t shirts”   
“well that's a random question I’m sure I still have some left over from college in the depths of my closet why?.   
“No reason I just never see you not in a button down shirt and when you are wearing pants it's your slacks or your corduroy”.   
He raised his eyebrows “I see you became an expert on my pants”   
“Ok that came out wrong but I never see you in normal clothes I don’t think I ever seen you in tennis shoes. She turned to him leaning into him “what if I need some work done on the farm”.   
He laughed “I know nothing about farming so you will be out of luck”   
“If i can learn you can learn, anyway I think you will like it it's nice and quiet perfect for playing around with your radio”  
“Well when I move in I’ll wear normal clothing”  
“Ok another weird question since i’m already at it but do you always wear pajamas to bed or was it just because I was around.   
“Yes I always wear pajamas I went to a boarding school where people liked to pull fire alarms at three in the morning also I never know when I need to get an emergency”. He paused “do you always wear a nightgown to bed?"  
“Hey I like my nightgown it keeps me cool when there is no air conditioning”. He raised his eyebrows and Fern could tell he was thinking   
“I don’t know how not to word this so its not forward but I could think of other things you would be more comfortable in”   
“Smooth Harvey real smooth”  
He looked away blushing. “Hey somehow I got you to love me so something worked”.   
“Do you have any idea how much I love your smart-aleck comments, that there is a sense of humor under all that wool and glasses”.  
“I guess I just needed somebody to bring it out and share jokes with. I love the fact that deep down you're a romantic at heart.”  
“I don’t know why it's just your sweet and I can't help being all enamored around you”.  
“Well I never believed the whole aura of cynicalness you put off maybe at first but after I got to know you and I found out how wonderful you are.”  
“Well somebody needs to be the glass half full person and the glass half empty person. She sighed “two more days”.  
“Oh little girl can we just forget the if it's full or empty and just focus on the glass.”  
“Were a good fit for each other aren't we?”  
He kissed her forehead. “I’m glad I waited for you, I always knew you would come along.”.  
“Well I’m glad I realized I couldn’t be without you”.

Harvey  
Looking at his watch he sprinted to the office door “Sorry I’m late Dr.Walker”.  
He smiled “It happens sometimes, glad you could make it” I’m guessing since you haven't been in for a while you're busy and making progress.  
“Practice is going good, Meds are stable, getting married tomorrow.”  
“That's good to… Wait married?”  
Dr. Walker paged through his files. "Is this the girl that you mentioned last session . The one who didn’t need your help and had a boyfriend.   
“Yes”   
“Congratulations”  
Harvey couldn’t help but grin.  
“I told her everything about my childhood, about my parents, about my autism. Its funny what most people find as annoying personality flaws she likes”  
“Tell me more about her then.”  
“I don’t know what else to say other than she’s amazing. She’s funny, kind, smart, got me to loosen up a bit. I make jokes, I have friends now. I go out and see people. She makes the day a bit more livable.”   
“I’m happy for you Harvey this is a huge improvement from our last session. Nervous about getting married, marriage is a huge step.”  
“I done many things in my life that affected me negatively but without a doubt I’m absolutely positive I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”  
Dr. Walker smiled at him.  
“She’s the first person I been intimate with, we had some issues about that in the beginning but we worked them out with the help of our friends.”  
“Sounds like you have good friends. I’m happy for you Harvey it seemed like you met the goals you set out to do, infact if you want this could be our last session.”  
“Well I’m going to miss these.”  
“A bit of pre wedding advice, communicate with her I know that’s not easy for you but almost all the relationships I seen fail were due to poor communication".  
“I’ll try my best.”  
“Good and if this girl loves you as much as you do her you're going to have a full life together”  
You have my card if you ever need somebody to talk to Congratulations and I wish you the best of luck with your new life”  
\---  
True to his word he walked into the bar in jeans, shirt and a pair of converses. A few people stopped what they were doing to look. Fern couldn’t help but laugh “Ok you look ridiculous i'm sorry, you pull off the semi professional look better.”   
He leaned in close so nobody would overhear and she could feel his warm breath on her ear “You owe me big time.”   
She took a drink from her glass “what do you have in mind”.   
He raised his eyebrows and whispered “let me make a list. Thankfully you already going to marry me so we have plenty of time to get it done”   
She couldn’t help but grin at him.   
He shifted the subject “nervous about tomorrow?”   
“A bit are you?”   
“Only because I don’t like being the center of attention”.  
She grabbed his hand “Well don’t worry we only have to do this once. Anyways I moved stuff around so you can have room for your things are you sure you're ok moving to the farm”.   
“Well the apartment is uncomfortable just for one person and I’m sure i'll get used to things after awhile.”  
“Remind me to show you the sunset it's gorgeous”.  
“Can’t be more gorgeous than you”  
“I don’t know if i can take you seriously in that outfit.”  
“Hey you asked me.”  
She leaned forward and played with the edge of his shirt “I like you better in a suit and tie anyways Doctor Harvey”.  
“Oh pretty girl how did I ever get to find you?”  
“Fate?”  
“I thought you didn’t believe in fate.”  
“I didn’t believe in luck or romance before but somehow you know exactly how to make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world… God Shane was right I am a sap now.”  
“Just as long as you can be my sap.”  
Giving him a look that made him blush she leaned over and kissed his earlobe.  
“Harvey I have no idea what i’m going to do with you.”   
He couldn't help but give a sigh and lean into her."  
She moved to nuzzle his neck with her nose her warm breath on his shoulders. He could practically feel the tension between them in the air. “We'll Fern I could think of a few things off the top of my head.”  
"are you going to add that to your list Doctor?" Fern was practically in his lap by that point and Harvey had to remind himself they were in the middle of a bar on thursday night.   
“Wait for after the wedding you two are going to make my diabetes flare up” Pam yelled.   
They both jumped and sat back on the booth a few inches between them, all the patrons eyes turned to them. Whispering in his ear “good thing it's not friday or a weekend huh?”  
He rubbed her fingers on the back of his ear brushing a few hair strands away.“Call it a night then”  
Walking home he avoided looking at her because at this point he was so wound up he knew if he looked at her they wouldn’t make it to the clinic.  
When they got there he pulled her into a long kiss. They got a bit handsy as she backed him pressing him against the wall. He closed his eyes as he let her weight gently press on him. He was already hard the second she pushed him into the wall.  
He attempted to focus as she pressed her leg into his erection.   
“You have no idea how bad I want to unlock the door and shove you inside but I know if I do we will never get any sleep and tomorrow is a big day”.   
She gave a sigh that sounded more erotic than relief “always the responsible one”.   
“It's hard being responsable around you” He couldn’t help himself and rocked against her leg letting out a whimper.   
She went in for another kiss lingering for a moment playing with his hair.   
Harvey lost all thought and could only let out an “Oh” as she teased the zipper in the front of his pants. When she eventually pulled away he was flushed clutching the wall of the clinic.   
She smirked at him. “Try and get some sleep tonight please”.  
Fumbling for his keys he opened the door “well I am going to get out of these uncomfortable clothes and take a shower first”   
“Have fun Doctor Harvey see you tomorrow”  
All he could do was nod.


	24. Chapter 24

Fern  
She was awoken by Emily and Haley pulling her out of bed. “Come on we need to make you pretty farm girl”.   
“Can’t I sleep the weddings tomorrow”  
“we did let you sleep and technically the weddings in four hours and you looked like you slept in the coop. So what are you going to wear?" Fern sleepily motioned to her dresser Haley pulled out a dress   
“Oh no you're not wearing this”   
"It's a dress it's white i’m only going to wear it once Harvey won’t care, he will marry me in overalls if he could. The sisters exchanged looks.   
“Come on you're coming to our house dragging her out of the house in the dark”.   
Sitting awkwardly on the couch she closed her eyes as Maru let out a squeal. “I can’t believe you and Doc are getting married, I knew from the day i walked into the clinic and he had that stupid look on his face he loved you”.   
Fern felt hungover. Maru grabbed her shoulders “hey I get to be you guys godmother ok”   
She laughed “we haven't even talked seriously about kids, by the way how are you and Shane doing”. Maru blushed and shut her mouth to late Emily was already walking over “what’s this about you and Shane?”   
Maru pointed to fern “this is her day”.  
Somehow between the effort of them they managed to make her hair look nice. Gone were the practical pigtails and instead they made her hair somewhat wavy and made her face rounder.   
Hailey brought out a trunk. “Ok before you say no I called our mom and she said ok. She pulled out a lacy white dress.   
"I never even met your mom why is she letting me wear her dress’.   
“Well mom has given up on Emily getting married and i wouldn’t be caught dead in that dress, no offence, plus she knew your mom a bit when she visited your grandpa”.  
“I honestly don’t know what to say everybody's been so nice about this.”   
Haley rolled her eyes “I spent an hour doing your makeup if you cry i'm going to kill you”.   
Emily headed to the front door and snapped her scissors “let's see if I can get the Doc to let me cut his hair”   
Maru buried her face in her hands and groaned.

 

Harvey  
It seemed like he just laid in bed before he was awoke by knocking on his door. Out of habit he slipped on his shoes to make sure it wasn’t an emergency. Emily stood there grinning with a pair of scissors.  
“Ready to go get married Harvey?”  
\---  
He looked in the mirror “I look ridiculous”  
No you don't you look nice at least I didn’t make you shave that mustache off.   
Somebody knocked on the door to the apartment.  
“Oh god what did you let her do to you?” Shane asked.  
He motioned at Emily “See even Shane thinks it's bad.”   
“i think you're nervous and overreacting trust me it will look better once you have your suit on. Do you have a different pair of glasses.  
“Whats wrong with my glasses.  
Biting her lip emily looked at Shane.  
“Fine i'll say it, those glasses are the ugliest things I ever seen and they make you look like a pedophile, happy now Emily?” Shane huffed.  
“Do you really think they're that bad Shane”  
“Harvey the entire town thinks they're bad. I bet I could go next door and run a poll and everybody will say they look horrible”.   
He sighed “I do have contacts”.   
Gerring up Emily brushed the loose hair off of his back “Good your wedding pictures are going to be so much better without them”.   
“I’m only going to wear the contacts for the pictures after everything is over I get to put my glasses on.”   
Emily shook her head “why are you even here Shane?”  
“I wanted to make sure he didn’t bail out on my friend plus I thought I would give him some advice”  
“God knowing you any advice you give him should be stapled to the divorce papers.”  
“Shut up Emily”.  
"what's going on with you and Maru?"  
"I said shut up".  
Emily grinned. "Aww little Shane found a girlfriend your going to have such smart asshole babies."  
"Emily do you ever know when to close your mouth or should I call Clint over so you can demonstrate your skills."  
She put a hand on her hip “come on what's the advice you wanna give him then?”  
“Well when a man and a women love each other…”   
Emily smacked him in the back of the head with the towel she used to cover Harvey during his haircut. “alright i’m done, now to check and see what my sister did to your future wife.”   
Tipping his chair back Shane wiggled his hand in goodbye “make sure you take pictures lots and lots of pictures. Preferably blackmail worthy ones”.  
He turned to look at Harvey “Ok I lied I have no advice to give because my father was an asshole and walked out when I was little, umm advice... let's see, don't stick your dick in crazy, don't piss her off when she's PMS'ing, wrap it before you tap it, don't tell her the dress is ugly even though it is, when a lamp is thrown at you duck because they may not look like they hurt but they do, trust me I know from experience”.  
"I don't think any of those will be a issue with Fern."  
Shane placed the chair feet back on the ground.   
“So Harvey how do you feel?”  
“There isn’t enough adjectives to describe how nervous I feel.”  
“You're going to be fine.”  
“I hope so.”  
“Just picture everyone naked.”  
“Shane I seen everyone in this town naked that doesn't work for me.”  
“I would suggest picturing Fern naked but I don’t think that's going to end well Ok try this just pretend you're at Joja Mart sitting there stocking shelves until you die.”  
“Thanks Shane I think that might work."  
“I miss the non snarky doctor who complained about my liver and told me to eat fruit”  
“I can still complain about your liver”  
“God she’s a horrible influence on you, now go marry her”


	25. Chapter 25

Fern

As soon as she saw Harvey she felt like she was going to cry and moved to stand next to him. He smiled at her and took her hand. He looked exceptionally handsome in his suit. Emily trimmed the edges of his hair taking some of the bulk off but personally she liked his scruffy hair and she she missed his glasses.It was odd seeing him without them. He looked as nervous as she did and she squeezed his hand. He looked at her like she was the only person that mattered in the world and Fern could just feel bliss taking over her. Mayor Lewis gave his speech that Fern was to nervous to pay attention to Stepping back he pronounced him husband and wife and they both went in to kiss each other at the same time Harvey bending his knees to reach her. Somebody she thought Maru shouted “about time” and she could hear Hailey taking pictures. Pressing his nose against hers Harvey couldn’t help but stare “Hello wife, Fern Harvey doesn't have quite the ring to it as Fern Farmer”.  
She nuzzled his nose “I’ll think i'll manage”.  
They were ushered into the bar where they had arranged a small reception.  
“I can’t believe they made such a big fuss about us” He murmured shaking his head and putting his glasses back on. Turning and looking at her “did I tell you you're beautiful” Blushing she looked at her hands Harvey placing his on top of hers. She snugged her body into his and sighed.  
“Happy” he asked.  
She hummed a unhuh “are you happy?” he looked down at her his glasses sliding down his nose a bit “unbelievably so”.  
She tilted her head back smiling at him. “You know my wish came true, the wish you told me to make that night in the mountains”.  
“And what was that?”  
“I wished to be happy” He squeezed her hand. “Glad i could help”  
“what about you?”  
He looked at her and smiled “already got it”.  
As the evening passed they sat in the booth watching everybody enjoying themselves. Occasionally somebody to stop them to say congratulations and offer them well wishes. For somebody who was a stranger just a few years ago Fern felt loved.  
Emily gave a whistle and everybody quieted down.  
“It's time for the Doctor and his bride to have their first dance so get out of the way”.  
“Wait there little girl” as he slid out of the booth and disappeared into the crowd. She could hear Gus shuffling around with some tapes before music came on the speakers. Harvey appeared in front of her holding out his hand.  
“Ready to make it up to me for missing the flower dance”  
Fern gave him a stupid grin and tried not to cry.  
“I think there waiting for us’. Nudging her up.  
She wrapped her arms around him.  
“I still don’t know how to dance Harvey”  
“I don’t care as long as you don’t step on my feet I don’t care".  
She squeezed him.  
The jukebox music quieted and the sound system crackled.  
After a few notes Fern recognized the song “The song Elliot was playing at the beach?”  
Harvey nodded pulling her into him.  
“I figured this would be the the closest to a song we had plus I know the words”.  
She realized he was singing quietly not above a whisper but she could make out words “There's a somebody I'm longin' to see, I hope that she turns out to be, someone to watch over me”.  
Humming she buried her face in his neck.  
When the song ended he guided her back to the booth. “One day I'll have to dig out my guitar so I can play it for you.  
“You have a guitar I can't see you playing a guitar  
“well I had to learn something for music class at school and I knew girls liked guitars even if I play horribly i'm better with the violin ”.  
She leaned in and whispered “so I guess you're really good with your fingers huh?”  
She watched him blush and cover up her hand with his “Little girl you're going to kill me aren't you?”  
Raising her eyebrows “well we do have to consummate the marriage”.  
“Finally going to make a honest man out of me, then why are we waiting then?”  
“Feel free to talk like this to me some more when we get home I like this” She ran a hand down the inseam of his pants.  
He breathed out a barely audible “fuck” and she giggled.  
After saying their goodbyes to everybody,They walked home slowly in the dark. They passed the clinic the light shining bright in front of it.  
“Wanna know something stupid” he pointed to the west facing window “sometimes when I couldn’t sleep I would work on some of my models if I look through the window just right I can see the light of the farm”  
Ferns heart filled with love “that's sweet honey”  
Harvey looked sheepish “I guess, it made me feel less alone”.  
Shifting her weight to lean against him “Wanna know something stupid? When I first walked to town your clinic was the first thing I saw”.  
He kissed her forehead “let's go home”

Harvey  
As soon as they got on the porch he grabbed her and picked her up.  
“Harvey you're going to pull a muscle or something".  
“Be quiet and let me enjoy this” he whispered letting them into the house. He put her down on the couch and rubbed his back. “Getting to old for this”  
“Hey I had to carry you up the stairs to your apartment passed out”  
She grabbed a box and tossed it to him “got you something. “Don’t get excited it's just a key to the house”  
Opening it he pulled out a key and squinted at the keychain “world's best doctor” He grinned.  
“Yeah I was going to get you worlds best husband but you been my doctor longer than my husband and I know how you're all about the details".  
This moment was perfect the entire day was more than he could of dreamed about and he wanted to remember it for the rest of his life. Pulling her into a tight embrace they held each other for what seemed like hours before Fern tried to hold back a yawn.  
“Bed?” he asked.  
She nodded sleepily “sorry if i'm to tired for our wedding night I had my morning interrupted by three shrieking girls giveing me a makeover”.  
Planting a kiss on her forehead “go to sleep i'll be here in the morning. Sighing she snuggled up to him tucking her body in the curve of his.  
She fell fast asleep but Harvey couldn’t. Sliding out of the bed carefully not to wake her he walked to the kitchen and noticed she bought camomile tea. Grabbing one of her mugs he boiled water in a pan.  
Sitting at her no there tiny table he slowly drank his tea. He still couldn't get over the fact that she was his wife. If it wasn’t for the wide band of gold on his finger he would of thought the last few months were a dream.  
He heard movement and soft footsteps as she walked out “You ok”? She asked.  
“Sorry if I woke you, just new place, new blankets, can't sleep”.  
“If you want you can bring your blankets from your apartment to use or we can pick some new ones out together”.  
In the moonlight from the window he could see her smile.  
“Can I ask you something stupid that's been destroying my brain ever since it happened?”  
“Allright.”  
“That night when it was raining and you fell asleep on the couch did you tell me you loved me?”  
Fern looked away nodding.  
He sighed looking at her endearingly his shoulders sagging “Oh Fern.”  
“I meant it too Harvey. I just wanted to let you know that.”  
He cleared his throat “You should go back to sleep”  
She shook her head “not without you anyway I'm not sleepy”  
He watched her move her hair back wispy in the moon light.  
His body began to stir. “well what if I make you sleepy?”  
She walked up to him “give it your best shot.”  
He led her to the couch and pulled her on his lap. He had waited patiently for this and wondered if she ached for him as much as he for her. They hadn't had sex since the night in his apartment, It wasn’t like he didn’t want to. He just didn’t want to risk another mistake and possibly lose her again.  
They started with light peeks here and there before turning into makeing out. With a hand on her back he gently laid her down on the length of the couch. She wiggled impatiently running her hands up his pajama bottoms.  
“Come on Harvey” she whined giving his pajama bottoms a tug. She slid her hand down the front and rubbed him. He was hard possibly the hardest he’s ever been he could feel the damp spot on his underwear from his precum.  
Unintentionally she grinded against him and he let out a nose that was intoxicating.  
He was already panting “slow down little girl I want to make this last as long as possible for the both of us. We have all night and nowhere to go”. He watched her surveying his next move.  
“I’m going to finish what you started last night” He whispered low in her ear.  
Untangling her legs from him he slowly slid her pajama shorts off along with her underwear leaving her bottom half exposed to the cold. Sliding her forward he nestled in between her thighs giving the insides a lick. His mouth found her folds as he slowly licked her tasting her. Judging by the noises and the way her hands stick in his hair she liked it. He grabbed her hips holding them down slightly as he explored her with his tongue. She whimpered and that only made him go at her harder. Her legs twitched and he could feel her thigh muscles tensing. Not being able to help himself he had to reach down and give himself a few strokes. He felt her tug at his hair.  
“Harvey look at me”.  
He lifted his head only to get pulled in by a kiss. Using his fingers where his tongue was he probed inside of her trying to find her spot. She was breathing heavy and for a second he was going to ask if she wanted to stop and use her inhaler. Instead she grabbed his wrist pressing it harder against her so that his palm was rubbing her clit.  
He remembered what she said at the bar  
“I apologize in advance if i’m no good at dirty talking to you”.  
“Don’t worry we can learn together”  
“I can’t believe how wet you are” he sighed.  
“Well you know the right way of pressing all my right buttons”  
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you for months everytime I touched myself I just wanted more.  
“Go on”  
“I just want to devour you”  
“Oh you're doing a good job so far. I thought about you too”. She wiggled her fingers “it's not quite the same without you”  
He grunted at the thought of her in bed pleasuring herself thinking of him.  
She stared at him using her free hand to keep his face locked in hers. Giving a whimper, her hips bucked forward and a warm wet dampness covered his hand. Her eyes went wide. “Fuck That’s never happened before”  
Harvey gave her a smirk “well female ejaculation is pretty easy to figure out once you know what you're doing”. She raised up her eyebrows and he kissed her nose “I read a lot and sometimes it's pretty useful”.  
“You look way too pleased with yourself come here and let me wipe that stupid grin off your face”. She took him in her hand her narrow callused fingers gently stroking him rubbing his precum over his head.  
“Oh that’s it little girl please, do you want me to beg because i'm going to have to soon.”  
Using her hand to guide him he entered her, She pulled on his hips locking her legs on his thighs getting him as close and as deep and she could. The months of sexual tension made him feel like he was going to burst. He couldn't handle more than a few thrusts.  
He moved to pull out but she placed a hand on him.  
“Don’t worry i'm back on my pills.”  
With a thundering flourish he came groaning loudly and fell into her body. She wrapped her arm around him so he wouldn’t fall off.  
“Damn it Harvey i'm sure if the girls in collage knew you were that good I wouldn’t have you”.  
He managed to get his brain functioning again and slid off on her onto his feet. Grabbing her with both of her hands he pulled her up. “Come on I think we both are going to sleep good after that”.  
\---  
They woke up around noon still naked spooning with each other.  
Harvey went to the chair where he had a pile of clean clothing to last until he brought all of his stuff “I don’t think I slept that late in years” He turned to Fern who was sitting naked cross legged on the bed the tips of her hair covering her nipples. He could feel himself start to go hard again.  
“Before you put your clothing on do you want to take a shower”  
“You mean together?” His voice cracking a bit betraying him.  
“Yes together i never done it before and technically this is our honeymoon so why not”  
He looked her up and down feeling his face get hot and his arousal grow.  
“I don’t think we will get very clean if we do that”  
She slid out of bed and reached for him. “well we can get things out of the way before then we don’t have to worry about it”.  
“I don’t know I think I already gave you my top shelf material you might be disappointed.”  
“Oh harvey you can never disappoint me”.  
His fingers found her already wet and she threw her arms around his shoulders hanging on to him as he fingered her. He felt her grip tighten her knees shaking. “Fuck” She groaned “How are you so fucking good at this”.  
“Well you're not bad yourself every time you made me orgasm it's been the most intense of my life. I don’t think I could go back to masterbation now.  
“Did you think of me, did you think of me as you got hard and stroked off”  
“Yes little girl every time every goddamn time even before we got together you were all I could think about it just got worse when I got the real thing. I would of waited a million years for you”.  
“Fuck me harvey please fuck me”  
“Oh you don’t need to tell me twice” He threw her on the bed.  
“Make noise i love it when you make noise it's means i'm doing good”  
“Oh honey you're always doing good I can’t imagine you being bad”  
“I can be bad if you want me to”  
“Fuck little girl” He leaned his head on her shoulder as he pumped her.  
He turned to look in her eyes blame the adrenalin and oxytocin before he could stop himself he opened his mouth “Can we have a baby?”  
Fern blinked and Harvey instantly panicked. Why did he blurt that out, why did he blurt that out during sex, “Sorry I don’t know what compelled me to say that. I don’t even know why I assumed you would want to have children with me… we should of talked about this before we got married.”  
He sighed and rolled off of her. “I’m ok with not having kids if you don’t want them”.  
“Harvey sweetie calm down It's ok, I’m not going to say no just ask me again later”.  
“How later” Harvey didn’t know when to shut up.  
“I’ll ask you when i'm ready preferably not when we haven't only been married for twenty four hours”  
“I’m sorry I just said that sometimes I don’t think before I open my mouth”.  
“Harvey it's ok, let's finish up so I can take a shower and feed the chickens”.  
\---  
Dressed in shorts and a old shirt she picked up the basket and glanced over at Harvey who was petting Goldie.  
“Come on i'll show you what I do all day change into something you don’t mind getting dirty”  
Goldie running around him delighted that her new friend was still there.  
“Usually i'm up earlier and it's cooler so bare that in mind. He nodded not knowing what to do as he followed her into the coop. She handed him the basket. “Can you get the eggs out of the nests there should be four of them” He nodded and put them carefully in the basket.  
Fern gave him a proud smile touching his shoulder and leading him out. “You can put them in the house if you want i’m just going to water plants and pull up weeds. I’m sure there might be some fence repairs but it's to hot to do that right now”.  
When he appeared again she was waving her sickle at the ground. “The grass we can turn into hay the fiber I just sell to Lewis.  
Harvey handed her a cup of water “you should stay hydrated.”  
She shook her head “is this what I get for marrying a doctor”  
“Well I am the only doctor in town and the doctor is recommending for you to rest.”  
They both sat on a log and looked at the setting sun.  
She turned and looked at him “what were you doing Seventy two hours ago”.  
He leaned back and thought “probably convincing myself it all wasn’t a dream and you were going to marry me”  
“I would do it again in a heartbeat you know”  
“sorry for making things awkward earlier”  
“No more apologizing” She looked into his eyes and pulled him close his chin resting on her head.  
“Don’t worry nothing you say can ever be too awkward or scare me away."  
She stood up and reached for his hand making his stomach flutter.  
Pulling him up she turned him to face the farm “Let’s both go home I have so many plans with you old man and the rest of our lives to do them”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I’m done well there’s more to the story after the happily ever after but I’ll save it for another time.  
> Language doesn't come easy for me and because of that I gave up my love of writing. Something about this story made me what to keep at it and finish it instead of giving up and writing it off as crap. The story surprised me in many ways as I wrote it Originally it was Fern’s story her coming to terms with her life but slowly I found myself putting more and more of myself into Harvey. I guess it takes a awkward on the spectrum nerd to write about one. It may not be the best fanfic out there but it's mine and hopefully with time I can get better. Once I get a few stories under my belt I might rewrite this but now I move on.  
> Any advice on writing you would like to give me will be appreciated. Think this is the worst fanfiction since you read My Immortal please tell me . I strive to improve. You can find my Tumblr here http://foxtrotfandom.tumblr.com/ feel free to use Asks.  
> I wish to thank everybody for clicking the link to read this. It Thank you shellyc9 for reading it and encouraging me even if it was a slightly different version than the one that I put on the site. Thank you Waltz for your comments they kept me going and continued posting.


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